Adding Briefings Bells and Whistles to your Scenario
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 7:56 pm
I think I have the pattern down for adding briefings to your scenario. Sometimes I like to click the "i" button and review the briefing. If you don't create one, there is nothing to see.
I basically did the trial and error, copy and paste from Slitherine stock scenarios until I got it to work. Some things in the game are done by x,y of the map, and some are x,y pixel of a graphic. At 1024x1024 this can take some time to get things to be where you want them.
This is a rundown of all the custom things I add to a full blown campaign
I basically did the trial and error, copy and paste from Slitherine stock scenarios until I got it to work. Some things in the game are done by x,y of the map, and some are x,y pixel of a graphic. At 1024x1024 this can take some time to get things to be where you want them.
This is a rundown of all the custom things I add to a full blown campaign
Some of you may have wondered how the graphics in the menu screens work and how to customise them for your campaign.
When you click the i button in the game it brings up the briefing but only if you create one.
Here is a rundown of the files needed in addition to the files needed for a campaign and scenarios.
Note the <name> means the name of your campaign or scenario without the < >
<name> folder
-backdrop.dds 1024x1024 background image for campaign menu
-icon.dds 1024x1024 alpha with smaller graphics on right side 55%, campaign menu
-uniticons.dds overhead icons
-text1.txt see below for details
-campaign.txt list of scenarios in brackets [ ]
-maker.txt your name will appear on screen
anim folder
-custom victory flags
scenarios
-<name>.bam
-<name>.bsf
-<name>.dds 1024x1024 alpha with smaller graphics centered, scenario menu
-<name>_lighting.txt if you want to change to night or dusk
data\ui
-campaign_overlay.txt lays out where all the items will appear on the screen
-<name>_map.txt lays out where the text, arrows, buttons appear in briefing screen
-scenui_<name>.txt similar to above scenario menu screen
data\ui\textures
-<countryname>.dds little flags
-<scenarioname>.dds 1024x1024 briefing map screen shot or picture
****
text1.txt needs:
(insert your text where the * are)
IDS_CAMPAIGN_NAME,"*",
IDS_CAMPAIGN_TEXTa,"*",
IDS_CAMPAIGN_TEXTb,"*",
IDS_CAMPAIGN_TEXTc,"*",
IDS_SCENARIO_<NAME>, "*",
IDS_SCENARIO_DESC_<NAME>_a,"*",
IDS_SCENARIO_DESC_<NAME>_b,"*",
IDS_SCENARIO_DESC_<NAME>_c,"*",
IDS_M1_INTRO_BP0TEXT, "*",
IDS_M1_INTRO_<NAME>_TEXT0, "*",
IDS_M1_INTRO_<NAME>_TEXT1, "*",
IDS_M1_INTRO_<NAME>_TEXT2, "*",
IDS_M1_VICTORY_BP0TEXT, "*",
IDS_M1_DEFEAT_BP0TEXT, "*",
What I have done is borrow the existing files from a Slitherine campaign that does the animations
in a way that I like. I play around with the numbers in the *map.txt and scenui*.txt to get the
boxes the right size for the text that I have typed in text1.txt and where the boxes appear.
Note that if your text is too long, it may not appear.
Before you pull your hair out, try short bits of text and see if this works at all,
then lengthen the text a bit at a time.
The example shows a b c and 0 1 2 but can be less or more up to a limit.
