Editing

Written by: Rob

Main Menu

Welcome. This is a tutorial that shall pass you through the basics on how to use the in game editor for ofp

I shall step by step take you through the editor and the different usages of the buttons.





 

 

Step 1:

Where do I start?

Step 2:

The first step

Step 3:

Different selections

Step 4:

The basics of grouping

Step 5:

The basics of Syncing

Step 6:

Setting weather, day, month and time

Step 7:

What is Merging?

Step 8:

How do I export my missions?

Step 9:

Quick description of WP

Step 10:

The End

 

 

 











 

Once ofp has loaded to the main screen go into "Mission Editor". This is where you will learn how to make your own missions.

   Select a random map from the list you have, there should be 4 unless u have downloaded some more. Once loaded you should have a big empty map where you are about to make your missions!!!

 

 

 

 









 

The editor is a very complex thing to handle but over time becomes easier to use after you gain the knowledge. This tutorial should, (should) help you to learn basically the simple things to a mission, such as placing units and movement. 

Further through the tutorial I will explain more but you have to read the first steps.

Before we start I would like to point out that you can zoom in and out by either using you mouse scroll or the + and - on the numpad.

Ok, Ready?

The first thing I will go through is the different actions on the main screen and what they do but first off I really suggest that u turn the editor into advanced mode. You can do this at the top right hand of the screen. click this once and it shall turn to advanced.

 

You are probably thinking to yourself "well why am I using this editor in advanced mode when I don't even know how to use it yet", That's a good question and the answer to that is, is that, even though you have only just started learning about the editor it is a lot easier and you are allowed 3 times the options than you would in easy mode. This will give you a more quicker understanding of the games full potential and you more likely to learn quicker.

 

The next thing, How to place a single unit. 

Move to the designated area on the map where you would like to start and follow carefully.

To select a unit it isn't as simple as click on the units icon at the top, you have to select that then double click on the area you would like to start.

Then you should have a separate window appear. 

 

Here is where you will Choose your units and future ones. The first thing to choose is the side of unit you want. the Americans are "West" and the Russians are "east". these aren't the only options though. you can also select. you can also have civilians, Resistance (these are allies with west) and Empty. Empty only comes available to you when you select what unit you are going to be, Empty is a very powerful tool that allows you to place empty vehicles, ammo crates and most important of all "objects". There is a wide range of objects to use between chairs, buildings, helipads and much, much more.   

To see what unit you are on a map, the game circles a red ring around your unit.

 

This is just an indicator of where you are going to start, (It is not a target) Anyway going back to placing certain units.

If you look back at the unit window you will see different options you can choose from. The next one down from "side" is "Class".

At the moment and the first time you start it will already be on "men". This is where you can choose what vehicle you would request to be.

In there you can find "Air", "Armoured", "car", "support", "objects" and "ammo". Once you have selected what class you would like to start out as you move along to the option menu opposite that, "unit". In this drop down-menu is where you choose what kind of unit you want from under the specific class. You follow? basically if I selected "men" and then clicked on the unit selection I would have a long list of all the different types of men I could choose from. i.e. Machine gunner, black op, medic, mortar etc. the class you choose gives you different units. (quite obvious).

 

Rank is not really important as I may go through that in another step.

Under the special menu is where you get the options of how you would like to start, The options are "In Formation", "none", "in cargo" and "flying".

 

  •  In Formation:  When in a group this will make the units start out in a v shape formation.

  • None: This is very useful because sometimes you want s unit starting somewhere away from the group leader without being set in formation.

  • In Cargo: Is used to add men to boats or other vehicles if in the same group.

  • Flying: Is used for all flying objects. If you wanted a heli starting in the air without having to take off you use this option.

 

The "control" option allows you to select who has control of the unit. If you were to make a multiplayer mission and you needed another unit to be possible to play as you would change the menu to "playable". this instead will put a purple ring around the unit. When finished  making the MP mission and you want to use it in multiplayer anyone who joins can select to be that unit. If not in multi and in SP the unit will simply be AI. There is also the player option, which means you can change your original unit to the one you want by simply changing that. I will tell you how to export your missions in step 8.

<Moving on again>  

"Info Age". this will allow you to select how long the unit is able to stay in the mission without being thrown out.

"Vehicle Lock", is very important to be unlocked when trying to use guns on tanks and to be able to use empty units. if locked you can not use them and if this is used on a man, they will not be able to move.

"Name", This is probably one of the most important selections of the editor. nearly everything is controlled and ordered by using unit names. there are unlimited things you can do with giving a unit a name. Give them certain tasks, tell them to do actions and even use them in scripts. as you can see this is a very important option. You should be able to learn more about this in the trigger and scripting pages.

The Skill bar can be used to simply change the skill of the unit. the less the skill the less aware the unit is of danger and accurate. I think you know what skill really means so I won't go into the dictionary terms.

The init bar is used to give units actions and tasks, you can learn more about this in the init field page.

The azimut circle is the direction of the unit is currently facing,

This can be changed to any angle.

The rest is so simple there is no need to tell you, because it explains what it does in writing.

So far you should be well aware of how to place units now and have different types.

 

Because we are now in advanced mode you should see another little drop down-menu under the save buttons on the right hand side of the editor.

We will leave this because its for advanced users. You can make intros and outros by camera scripting videos for your missions.

I suggest you leave this until you read through the camera scripting tutorial and gain the knowledge needed then ask questions. All I can say at the mo is that you add all the units you want to place and then you give them orders with WP and make a video out of it. there is no user input allowed so if you don't make a camera script for it the player will just sit there and there is no way out of it.

The different selections is meant by the different things to select in the editor. as you can see below these are the actions you can use at the top of the editor.

 

Units, Groups, Triggers, WP, sync and makers.

 

Theses are all the things you need to make any kind of mission whether it's good or bad, it all depends on your experience.

Ok because All of these have their own say in this tutorial I will leave out the groups sync and waypoints because I will explain them when coming upon them so I will move onto triggers. yes it seems silly but I didn't really have much time setting this out professionally and its only a picture to show you what's there.

Triggers are extremely useful!!! We wouldn't be able to do half the stuff we can do without them, but not into grave detail because we already have another tutorial waiting for you that is dedicated to triggers and here I'm going to explain how you can use them. triggers are used exactly the same as units. You have to double click on the map where you want them to be. Another window should pop up like this one.

 

Yes we're going to go  step by step through the settings again.

In certain ways triggers can be easy but also very hard and advanced. ok, first we will look at the axis. What this does is simply give you control on how big the trigger is going to be. The default in a trigger is 50 by 50 but as you can see in this picture it has been changed to 10 by 10. 

Below that is an Angle box, in here you can spin the trigger from 0 degrees to 360.this is only really needed if the trigger isn't a full circle, for example. if you don't have the a and b axis the same it will be a different shape, like an egg. you don't just have to have a circle you can select "rectangle", which is next to Ellipse.

in the next set of options we come across "Activation", this is where we select what side will go through to activate it. these are like West, East, Resistance and you also get the radio commands in here. but that will have to wait because that is slightly more advanced and we are only doing the basics here. Next to that is "once" and "repeatedly", this simply makes the trigger activate how it is selected to, e.g. once or over and over.

Below that we have another activation selection which double checks and maybe change how the trigger is triggered, So if I wanted a west unit to activate the trigger but only when he dies I would select west in the drop down-menu then below that select "not present". the problem is, is that I am only explaining how to do this when one man is on the map. if there are many then the trigger will not activate until everyone inside the trigger dies.

So if I wanted to make it activate only by a certain person I would select the group command at the top of the editor and drag a line from the unit to the trig. The trigger will then only be activated by that unit. Huh!!! confused you say. Keep reading it and you shall catch on. 

Ok moving on swiftly. 

The Timeout and Countdown menus are second counters, these have control in when the trigger will activate. In the boxes "min", "max" and "mid" is where you tell the trigger how long to count down to until it activates itself. But they all have to be the same numbers otherwise it will not work.

Countdown, counts down the seconds and timeout waits till after the amount of seconds inputted. there is hardly any difference but they do have slightly different effects on the trigger. The menu below all that gives you the options to end the game in certain ways or loose missions etc but you can read on more about that when you read the through the trigger tutorial. when leaving that blank you can use the boxes below that to tell the trigger to command other units to do tasks etc, once again all you will ever need is in the trigger tutorial.

 

If you look at the bottom of the window is an effects button. 

The top has to be True otherwise these commands will not trigger.

  • Camera: In this menu you can select some different camera effects to operate around the unit that activated it.

  • Position: This tell the camera where it should start from the unit, in this case behind him.

  • Sounds: These are four menus where you can choose different sound effects and make sounds of units talking.

  • Music: The game already comes with 21 different songs to choose from. when the trigger is activated it will play.

  • Titles: here you can set overlays on the screen or add text to be viewed. the effect lets you choose things like, "black in"

 

The ones you select will all enable and play once the trigger is active.

The last one I will mention are the markers. These are use to show in the briefing of your mission where certain parts are like, your drop zone and enemy territory, but you can also name markers and use them as points for units to move.

if you click on it then double click on the map you should get a window like this one.

 

Given the name of the marker is what shall appear on the maps briefing. there are many different colours and icons to choose from, these consist of,

And many more. You can change the angle shape and size of it also.

You can learn more about that in the briefing tutorial.

 

Grouping is very simple to an extent. There are many different ways in which to group units but I'm only going the easy way for you guys.

There are three ways which you can use the group command. 

  1. Selecting units to be grouped,

  2. Double clicking the screen to make group teams

  3. Use the group command to make triggers activate by certain units.

 

 

Ok, Number 1 first.

 If I placed two units on a blank map, 

 

 

And if I wanted to be in control of that unit all I simply do is to click the groups button at the top of the editor and drag a line from my unit to the AI unit. 

 

If done correctly you should see a blue line that looks like they have been connected and in ways they have. This now shows you that these two units are grouped, BUT if I wanted to join with that unit, not being in control I would simply double click on the AI unit so that the unit window comes up. All you would have to do then is direct yourself to the "Rank" of the unit and change that to anything higher than Private. This is the first way to group.

If you wanted to ungroup them again simply pretend to make a line but drag it away from the unit. This will make the blue line disappear and you no longer have control.

 

The 2nd way to use the grouping command is to lay an already grouped group. These consist of troops,

 

Or as tank groups. If I wanted to make a tank group I would simply double click on the required area needed and select

 

This would then give me a group of tanks on the map looking like this.

 

BUT as you can see I'm next to them  and missing out on all the action. "SO", you say!

Well don't you want to fire those big 125mm cannons that they have. "So how do I change form being a pussy man to the tank!?"

Well that's why I'm here!. If you look at the tanks they are all joined to the one at the front. This means that, that tank is the leader of the group.

So double click it and once again you should get the unit window pop up. Then go to the "Control:" and you will see that there is a much larger selection of control to that specific unit. 

You can choose to be the commander, driver or gunner. The rest of those actions are for multiplayer usage only.

Then click ok, you should now see that the tank has a red circle round it which means that you are commanding something inside the tank.                   

You don't just get those options though you also get enemy groups.

 

The 3rd way is to use the group command for triggers and units.

You should remember most about the triggers so far so you should understand this. Can you remember that I said that you can also group triggers with units but I wasn't going to go into that till you reached the grouping step, well you can read now. Yes I know your backs are sore and so are mine while I'm writing this but what other way is there to learn quickly? 

Ok, I said that you can make triggers activate by selecting a side to be detected so that it would activate. but that's a bit stupid because sometimes you will need a trigger to only be activated by one unit. all you have to do is make the trigger and use the group command to drag a line from the unit to the trigger, like we did before.

As you can see I'm in charge of two other units. Say that I wanted one of the units to perform an action or something along the lines I would group the trigger to that unit. Simple!!! That's all you need to know.


Syncing would have to be the best thing in the editor because it controls nearly everything in steps.

You wouldn't be able to do much without this lil baby. Many people have said "How can I get myself or a group into a trick without it driving off?"

Well this is how. on this picture are some Waypoints which will be explained a bit later as always. lol,


I have made a Get in WP for myself but really it should be for a unit other than my self because it will not tell me to move in unless it is in SP, and AI does it automatically.

For the truck I have made two WP. One load WP for it to stop and wait for me and another to move. if you select the sync action and drag a line from wp to wp the truck will wait at that stop until you or a squad of men are in before moving to the next wp, if you get me. If I hadn't synced the two wp's together the truck would have completely ignored me and drove to the next wp...

That's only one method though. The next is to simulate a sync and group action being used together.

 

 

 

This one may look tricky but actually it is very simple.

The truck has a Move wp to the trigger. The trigger is grouped to the truck so that the trig is only activated by him and is also synced to the mans first wp. The man has two wp, one on top of himself and another in front. The wp has to be on top of him to make him stay still otherwise he will just move to the next wp. What this does is make the man wait until the trigger has been activated by the truck. I have only grouped it to show you because you may have other units that may run through it, but for this little experiment the grouping wasn't really need. It was only to give another example.


The last thing to mention is that if you synced a trigger with a wp on its own the trigger will not activate until the unit has moved to it.

  PHHEEWW, you've gotten this far, you can go further.

 


At the top right hand side of the editor there is a little window, just under the advanced, easy selection.

 

 

Anywhere you click on this will bring up a window like so.


This is another very powerful role of the mission because it sets the mood of the mission by the weather and time. 

Depending on the time depends on what the sky will look like. and the weather can vary between sunny, light clouds, light rain with sun, storms etc. sounds interesting.

The top two box are to do with the name and briefing but these aren't needed because the game doesn't use them for some reason. briefings are done in html format and the name is the name you save it as so this part is very insignificant. The last options are simple to understand so there's no need in talking about it. simple weather time date adjustments. The resistance as a default is friendly to west but you can change it to any team you prefer. 


There is a button that only comes available called merging when in advanced mode. This is with the load and save buttons on the right hand side of the editor.


This is only used for people that are making campaigns. It links missions together so they can be carried on, like a big story with 30 missions in.

That's all you need to know.




Not just to SP but also to MP. 

When in the middle of saving your game you also get the option to save as SP or MP when scrolling down the bar. This then exports all your game files into a pbo file outside the game which the game reads. This is very useful otherwise we would really need the editor.

BUT you have to save your game to user missions first otherwise there is no way of the game putting all the files together. and its also back up if you need to change it.


I really should have explained this earlier but I had some trouble remembering things. Hey don't blame me I have been up many nights past 2 in the morning doing this for you guys, but if this helps I guess its worth it because at least your learning. (I hope)

WP are very simple. 

Create a unit you wish to have moving or to do a certain task and make sure he is selected. click on waypoints at the top of the editor and double click the area on the map where you want him to commit. a window should show like this.


These are the many different types of WP you  can choose from for any unit.

The next picture shows the kinds on command you can give a unit.


As you can see in the description box I have put the text "move here". If I were the unit that was told to move to an area I would see that writing above a yellow box. this directs me and tell me what to do...

The next 4 areas are Very. Very important. any kind of combat mode, speed or behaviour can alter a units actions, so it's imperative to make sure you are using the right sources. In the combat menu you can choose never fire, hold fire, open fire and things like that. next is the formation. this is only really needed when trying to simulate a patrol, but comes with many different types of formations. if the unit is set to none in it's special menu it cannot perform this task, so make sure you have it on "in formation". Under that is behaviour which is one of the main rolls of WP. setting units to careless basically puts them on drugs. They will not pay any attention what's going on around them even if they're getting shot and they also have they're guns on their backs. Safe mode puts them with guns on backs but do react to hostile threat. Aware is a lower case of combat mode. Combat makes them more aware then any of the other selections and stealth makes them crawl along the floor. 

Left of that is the speed. This can be set to limit, normal or full. in all of these menus you should see that there is also a "No Change" selection. this basically makes the units perform the same as their last WP command.

The placement radius displays a round black circle which gives the unit a wider area to work on. Timeout is the same as was disgust before.

The next important parts to the wp are the three buttons, "never show", "show in cadet mode" and "always show". This means that you can either make the wp show or not. because we are currently in the editor the default is never show. when in cadet mode which is SP all the wp are automatically turned on to show. If always show you can view the wp's in editor or SP mode. And the effects are the same as the effects in the triggers.


I hope you have enjoyed yourselves. I have a bit Writing all this down, I just hope you have learnt something because my hands are killing me.

If you have any problems e-mail one of the team and we shall get back to you. If you want to go advanced, you can e-mail us or join the Forum which is where we live and there are some nice people there and some jerks but they only want to get attention. lol, happy editing.