Mission Editor (Wing Commander IV)

arena13.zip
Creator	HCl
Download	Download
Filesize	122 kB

See also IFF Extractor.

Description

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|               ARENA 1.3  -  A Wing Commander 4 Mission Editor             |
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 - How to install Arena 1.3

 Unzip your copy of Arena to a temporary directory with the -d switch.
 Just copy all *.exe files, the 00000000.wsg, the data.wc4 and *.txt to the
directory where Wing Commander 4 is installed. The contents of the missions
subdirectory MUST overwrite the file present at \data\missions.
 If you already have a previous version of Arena installed, you're all set.

 If not, download the file a13iff.zip. These are the profile and objects
files that should be unzipped with the -d switch into the \data directory.
 Make sure that the directories \data\profile and \data\objects are created.
 Copy the files GAMEFLOW.TRE and MISSIONS.TRE to the directory where WC4 is,
make sure they aren't write protected and run the patch.com
 Now you're all set.

 - What's new + plans for the future

 You can set up the ship orientation (heading), speed, iff code (neutral iff
code was added) and programmed actions. A script with a small number of
functions was included.
 The interface changed too. You can now use the mouse and work in graphic
mode (it doesn't seem graphic mode, but it is. Trust me on this.). I will
add a 2d map or 3d map on later versions, even though there aren't gonna be
many more... I'll mainly add commands to the script. I may improve a bit
the Arena editor and even make a WC3 version, but i'm planning to start
working in Prophecy now. Suggestions concerning this or anything else are
welcome, of course.

 - How to work with this interface

 Click on something on screen to change it. For example, if you click on
"Your Wingman is", you will change your wingman.
 Clicking on "COPY" will copy a ship, just like the space bar on previous
versions. Click on "<<<" to go to the previous ship, and ">>>" to go to the
next. You can also enter the ship name manually, if you press the "N" between
the "<<< >>>".

 Building nav points is completely different now. If you only create 1 nav
point the other 3 won't appear. There are several ways to turn a single nav
point into a living nightmare, as you will see. Click on "Build nav points".
Enter the number of navs and then enter the ships pressing enter after each
ship. Leave the field blank to finish that nav point.
Example: 1 <ENTER> 2 <ENTER> 3 <ENTER> <ENTER> puts ships 1,2 and 3
This was necessary for programmed actions.

 - Where is the option that allowed ships to autopilot with me?

 It had to be removed so you could enter programmed actions without conflicts.
To make a ship autopilot with you, enter 8 in the first prog ("unknown
condition") and if needed 9 in the second prog.

 - How to use ship orientation

 Ship orientation #2 is the angle the ship makes when yawing (pulling the
Joystick up and down). Assuming that orientation #1 is 0, a 0 deg angle would
mean the ship had its engines facing you with the cockpit facing up and a 180
deg angle would mean the ship is facing you with the cockpit facing down.
 Ship orientation #1 is tricky. It seems to rotate all axis. Assuming that
orientation #2 is 0, a 0 deg angle would mean the ship had its engines facing
you and a 180 deg angle would mean that the ships cockpit is facing you and the
ship is heading down.
 This is to be used by people who, like me, like detailed missions. If you
have problems with this, leave the values 0.

 - The difference between Relative and Absolute coordinates

 Another detail. Useful, sometimes. If the coordinates are Relative, then
(0,0,0) is your position and putting a ship there would mean a colision an
probably certain death.
 If the coordinates are Absolute, (0,0,0) would be the center of the nav
point.
 This is to be used by people who, like me, like detailed missions. If you
have problems with this, set Relative coordinates.

 - Different pilot input

 In Arena 1.2b and below, you just entered the difficulty level and the
pilot (blance, confed, genpir). Now if you want to have a level2 confed
pilot, you must write "confed2". While this may seem annoying, it allows
you to have much more pilots on the missions. Try writing "seether" as
the pilot or "hellcat1".

 - How to change your missile payload

 Run the program weapons.exe

 - How to distribute your missions

 You must send 3 files, to distribute your missions. The first 00000000.wsg,
can be found in the directory wc4 is on. The second is data.wc4 which must
be copied AFTER running gather.exe (gather.exe will gather info from your
GAMEFLOW.TRE). The third one is missb1.iff. You can find it on \data\missions.

 - How to install new missions

 Copy data.wc4 and 00000000.wsg to the directory wc4 is installed, and copy
missb1.iff to the \data\missions directory. Run update.exe and you're set.


 - Ship list

  Insert the name between bracets [ ] in the editor.

   Vaktoth              [vaktoth]
   Phantom              [phantom]
   Pirate Arrow         [arpir8]
   Confed Arrow         [arconfed]
   Cloak Arrow          [arcloak]
   Razor                [razor]
   Pirate Tbolt         [tboltpr8]
   Banshee              [bannew]
   Banshee              [bannewj]
   Weak Banshee         [banlow]
   Cloak Banshee        [banclok]
   Avenger              [aveng]
   Avenger              [avengj]
   Avenger              [avencle2]
   Avenger              [avenge2]
   Avenger              [avengl3]
   Cloak Avenger        [avenclok]
   Vindicator           [vindicat]
   Vindicator           [vindica3]
   Cloak Vindicator     [vindclok]
   Vindicator with MIPs [vindimip]
   Vindicator with MIPs [vinclmip]
   Hellcat              [hellcat]
   Weak Hellcat         [hellow]
   Thunderbolt          [tbolt]
   Longbow              [longbow2]
   Weak Longbow         [longlow]
   Excalibur            [excalibr]
   Weak Excalibur       [excalow]
   Bearcat              [bearcat]
   Hermes               [hermes]
   Dralthi              [dralthi]
   Kilrathi Shuttle     [kshuttle]
   Shuttle              [shut]
   Military Shuttle     [trshut]
   Dragon               [dragon]
   Darket               [darket]
   Paktahn              [paktahn]

Capships:

   Black Lance Carrier      [bcarrier]
   Black Lance Base         [blbase]
   Black Lance Transport    [bltrans]
   Pirate Frigate           [pfrigate]
   Intrepid                 [intrepid]
   Intrepid (low)           [intlow]
   BWS Tango                [intclss1]
   Base (?)                 [uoutpost]
   Lexington                [lexingtn]
   Lexington (low)          [lexlow]
   Confed Star Base         [cstarbse]
   Confed Destroyer         [cdestroy]
   Confed Frigate           [cfrigate]
   Depot (?)                [bpdepot]
   Vesuvius                 [vesuvius]
   Vesuvius (unmovable)     [n4vesuv]
   St. Helens               [sthelens]
   Confed Cruiser           [ccruiser]
   Radar Array (?)          [radpost]
   Jammer                   [jammer]
   Weapons Depot            [wepdepot]
   Radar Array              [radarry]
   Spacelab                 [spacelab]
   UBW Frigate              [ufrigate]
   UBW Destroyer            [udestroy]
   UBW Cruiser              [ucruiser]
   UBW Transport            [utrans]
   Laser Mine               [turpod]
   Dry Dock                 [drydock]
   Concordia class n. 48    [lex48]
   Concordia class n. 42    [lex42]
   Kilrathi Transport       [kt]
   Kilrathi Light Destroyer [kdes]
   Kilrathi Carrier         [kcarx]
   Kilrathi Dreadnought     [kdread]
   


Others (you can put missiles too): 
   Capship missile          [capmiss]
   Torpedo                  [torpmiss]
(?)Skipper                  [skipmiss]

 - Troubleshooting:

 Q - I installed a new mission and now i can't make new wc4 missions. What's
     wrong?

 A - You probably installed a mission made with a previous version of Arena.
     Go to the \data\missions directory and copy the missb1.bak to missb1.iff
     This should fix the problem.


 Q - Arena says it can't open missb1.iff

 A - Make sure that you don't have the game installed in \wc4. Install it
     in \games\wc4 or \data\wc4.


 Q - Arena says it can't open some TRE file.

 A - 1 - Make sure that you copied the files to the HD.
     2 - Run ATTRIB -R *.TRE


 Q - I keep playing the same 1st mission of wc4 where you have to escort
     the transport.

 A - 1 - Run ATTRIB -R *.TRE
     2 - Run PATCH.COM



CREDITS:
--------

-> Wing Commander 4 is Copyright of Origin Systems INC.
   http://www.origin.ea.com
-> The Arena editor and Script was made by Mario "HCl" Brito
   nop03079@mail.telepac.pt