Tutorial - Briefings for SP & MP
- by Hangfyre

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So, Briefings. Personally, I think these are vital parts of the mission. Here's a simple tutorial :)

As the difference between SP and MP briefings is fairly miniscule, I’ll be showing you first how to make a SP briefing, and then explaining the differences.

Briefings are nothing more than html pages. In fact, you only need one html page to cover the briefing, notes, and objectives section. This means you'll need to be familiar with basic HTML.. And I do mean basic :)

Files to grab
Briefing Example
init.sqs template
SP Briefing Template
MP Briefing Template


Single Player Briefings

OK, download and open up the briefing template.
Notepad is my preferred program here.

There's 4 main sections to a SP briefing that you need to be concerned with
- Notes
- Plan
- Objectives
- Endings

The order must be maintained, otherwise OFP has a hissy-fit.

Notes
Yes, for some reason, OFP calls this the "Main" section, but it's really the notes in the briefing. Anyway, this is a good play to put in your name. Nothing wrong with a little self-advertisement (grin)

This is also the place that you can be less "formal" in the briefing. Good things to include here are side notes, background information, "color" etc.

MP NOTE Both sides see this section the same.

Plan

This is the main briefing area. try to be more formal in your language. Think of this as a formal introduction to the mission.

This is also a good place to place links to the map to show the player general information. For this, you use the following code -

<a href="marker: **MarkerName** > **display name ** </a>

Marker name - the name of the marker
Display name - the name of the marker the player sees.

When constructing your map, make a note of the Markers you place, and their name. You'll need this information to make the objectives tie in and work with the briefing.

Now this above example code will just stick a plain line of text in the briefing section, which is rather boring. So just like a webpage, you can stick the marker reference in the middle of a sentence.

Example : lets say you want the player to be aware of his start position, a recon point overlooking the mission objective, and the objective's location.


<!-- *************************************** -->
<!-- BRIEFING SECTION -->
<!-- *************************************** -->

<p><a name="plan"></a>
Good Morning Captain.
<br>
<br>Your mission today is a recon of an Soviet Outpost.
<br>You will be dropped off <a href="marker:Dropoff">here</a> at 0600 hours.
<br>Proceed to this <a href="marker:Reconpoint">Recon position</a>, and observe the <a href="marker:Enemybase">Soviet Base.</a>
Satellite Recon indicated a <a href="marker:Scud1">SCUD</a> parked at the base.
</p>
<br><br>

<hr>


As you can see, the code example you use to link the Objectives in the briefing to the map is almost identical to the code used in the Plan section. You need only add the first snippet of code to make OFP recognize the marker as an Objective.


<!-- *************************************** -->
<!-- OBJECTIVES SECTION -->
<!-- *************************************** -->
<b><i> Objectives </b></i>
<p>Destroy the <a name = "OBJ_1"></a><a href="marker:Scud1">SCUD Missile Launcher</a></p>
<hr>


For Example, assuming you had a marker named "Objective1" which was an Enemy Scud Launcher, you would use this -


<p><a name="OBJ_1"></a><a href="marker:Objective1">Enemy SCUD Launcher</a></p>


In the briefing, the player would only see "Enemy Scud Launcher" in blue text, and could click on it, and the map would scroll to centre the Marker "Objective1" in the map.

Now, you can also make the briefing flow a little better by using the code in a sentence, rather than separately. Like this -


<p>Destroy the <a name = "OBJ_1"></a><a href="marker:Scud1">SCUD Missile Launcher</a></p>


the player will see this -

" Destroy the Enemy Scud Launcher at this location "

The blue indicates a link to the map.

Simple and elegant isn't it ? Try not to have more than 6 or so objectives, otherwise the poor player will get confused :)

Ok, here's what the briefing looks like so far.

Notes Page



Briefing Page






As you can see, putting a basic briefing together is really simple. More details can be added in the same manner, until you are satisfied with the result.

You don't need to overload the map with markers, in fact, i prefer to use mostly invisible markers ( by setting the size of the marker to "0" ) in briefing. You can still reference them, and the map isn't as confusing.

To include more unusual features is equally simple. An easy example of this is pictures. OFP can use any JPG which has dimensions in multiples of 2. What i prefer to use ( and i suggest you do as well ) is make your JPG 64x128 pixels. this works well.

The code to include the image is this -


<img src="image.jpg" width="128" height="64">


Please note, if you do use a html editor, remove and references to URL or pathname. Otherwise, it'll screw up. Just stick the image in the same folder as the briefing itself.

Oh, And this image code works for the Overview as well :)

OK, so there's a nice simple guide to making SP briefings. Next up, MP briefings.


Multi Player Briefings

These are practically identical to SP briefings. The only major difference is in the Plans, and Objectives section. You can have separate plans and objectives for each side.

The way you differentiate them is equally simple. Take a look at the MP briefing template.

As you can see, the Main briefing section is divided into two broad categories. East Plan and West Plan. Each section contains the main briefing and Objectives for the respective sides.
Also note that the "End Mission" section is slightly different. Instead of "Mission Won" / "Mission Lost" we now have "East Won" / "West Won"

That's all the differences :)
In effect, you need to write 2 separate briefings, one for each side and combine them to make one complete briefing.
It's a matter of writing each section for the appropriate side, and testing.

Now, the trick to making your MP briefings look good, is to hide the Objectives and markers that each team should not see.
That is, the Soviet players should not really see the West Objectives and Markers, and vice versa.
To do this is really simple, and requires the INIT.SQS file.

Open this file up, and you will see how easy this is. Just replace the text marked " ** text ** " with your mission’s marker / objective names.

As a tip, use a capital "E" or "W" at the start of the marker/objective name to signify which team it belongs to.

OK, that about wraps it up. As usual, feel free to email me, Hangfyre, if you have any questions.