Mission editor for X Operations

I have translated mission.html through Google Language Tools and on the basis of the translation prepared this guide to the Point Editor.

Use Point Editor v0.7 to create missions for X Operations 0.96.

The user interface of the Point Editor is generally the same as the one of the Block Editor. View point controls are the same either.

Special functions:

Load block - load the map, on which the mission will take place.

Save point - write mission information to a .pd1 file (point data version 1).

Load point - read mission information from a .pd1 file.

Direction - turn on/off the indication of the direction of the points in 2D views.

There is no Undo, Copy and Paste functions in the Point Editor.

Special keys:

F2 - display the number of points used so far
F8 - display the number of characters in the mission
F9 - check, if the ID number set as the current parameter is used already

A Z / S X / D C / F V - increase / decrease values of parameters 1, 2, 3 and 4 correspondingly
arrow Left / Right - change the direction of the selected point
Enter - display parameters of the selected point(s)
Numpad 0 - in a 2D view select the point closest to the mouse cursor, the 4 parameters of the point will be set as current parameters
F11 - set the 4 parameters of the selected point as current parameters
F12 - apply the 4 current parameters to the selected point(s)
0 - create 4 identical points at the position of the mouse cursor with the parameters, that are set as current

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - create a path-point of the corresponding type at the position of the mouse cursor (pay attention to the ID parameter of the created path-points):
1 - a waiting point
2 - 2 connected walk-points (the character walks between these 2 points)
3 - 4 connected walk-points (the character walks through these 4 points)
4 - 6 connected walk-points (the character walks through these 6 points)
5 - 4 connected run-points (the character runs through these 4 points and stops)
6 - 8 connected run-points (the character runs through these 8 points and stops)
7 - 7 connected random-path points (the character chooses through which of these points to walk at random and can reach 4 different places, at which he will stop)

Points:

A mission is based on points that mark characters, weapons, objects, pathways and events. A mission can contain up to 200 points.

Each point has a defined position, direction and 4 parameters. The value of each parameter can be set within the range from -128 to +127.

Parameter 4 is the unique identification number of an object. Don't use 0, -100, -110 and -120 as ID numbers, as these numbers are reserved.

Table 1. Characters.

Table 2. Types of characters.

* SG stands for sun glasses

Table 3. Path-points.

Table 4. Types of path-points.

If not expressly stated below, the height and the direction of a path-point are not used (so, the position of the point is defined through only 2 coordinates).

Table 5. Weapons.

Table 6. Types of weapons.

Table 7. Small objects.

* You can use only 1 custom small object in a mission.

A custom small object requires a model, a texture and a sound of hitting it with a bullet. The model is stored in an .x file (Direct X format), the center of the model is the (0,0,0) point. The sound must be in .wav format. After preparing the necessary files, create an information file of the object: a plain .txt file with the following text (paths to all the files are relative to the folder with the game):

path to the model
path to the texture
the size of the sphere for checking if the object is hit with a bullet
durability of the object
path to the sound
the "behaviour" of the object after its destruction

Table 8. Event-points.

If not expressly stated below, the position and the direction of an event-point are not used.

* Display message point reads a message from a .msg file. This file must have the same name as the name of the file with the mission (for example, mission1.pd1 and mission1.msg or ext1.pd1 and ext1.msg). You can add up to 16 messages to a mission. A message is a line of up to 35 letters. The first line in a .msg file is message number 0.

Events can follow each other in a chain, but sometimes parallel events are necessary. The game can handle up to 3 events simultaneously (in 3 separate processes). The ID numbers of the event-points that start such event-processes should be -100, -110 and -120. Each such starting event-point can be linked to other event-points.

Tutorial:

1) Load the corresponding map.

2) Create human information points.

Decide, what types of characters you are going to use in the mission and to which team they will belong.
For example: [4] [14] [0] [1] - policeman, team 0, ID 1 and [4] [16] [1] [6] - shirt man, team 1, ID 6.

3) Create path-points for the AI.

For example: [3] [2] [20] [20] - a wait path-point, ID of the following point is 20, the ID of this path-point is 20 (i.e. the next path-point is the same path-point, the character will stand still). [3] [0] [22] [21] and [3] [0] [21] [22] - 2 walk path-points, they link to each other, so a character will walk between them constantly.

4) Create the player character.

For example: [1] [1] [0] [0] - ID number of human information point is 1 (we have created it already), this means that the player character will be a policeman in team 0. ID of the initial path-point is not important for the player character, so make it 0, the player will start at the place on the map, where this point is situated. ID number 0 means that this is the player.

5) Create enemy characters.

For example: [1] [6] [20] [-1] and [1] [6] [21] [-2] - ID number of human information point is 6 (we have created it already), this means that the characters will be shirt men in team 1. ID of the initial path-point is 20 (the first enemy will be standing still) and 21 (the second enemy will walk between two path-points), ID numbers are -1 and -2.

6) Place weapons.

For example: [2] [1] [60] [-5] - an MP5 with 60 cartridges.

7) Place small objects.

For example: [5] [0] [1] [-10] - a can, that will be automatically placed on top of a block, that is under it.

8) Add event-points.

If the goal of the mission is to kill all the enemies, you don't need (but you can, certainly) to create any event-points (including the mission accomplished event), as any mission will always be counted as accomplished, when you kill all the enemies. All other types of missions require event-points.

For example: [12] [-2] [-101] [-100] -> [11] [0] [0] [-101] - if the character with the ID number -2 dies, the mission is failed.

Another example: [13] [-2] [-111] [-110] -> [10] [0] [-111] [-111] - if the character with the ID number -2 arrives to the point (it should be placed in the corresponding place on the map), the mission is accomplished.

Another example: [13] [-2] [-121] [-120] -> [14] [10] [-121] [-121] - when the character with the ID number -2 arrives to the point (it should be placed in the corresponding place on the map), another character will start walking from the path-point with the ID number 10 (we assume, that the corresponding path-point was created and that there is a character, that is standing in this path-point).

One more example: [13] [-2] [-111] [-110] -> [14] [10] [-112] [-111] -> [13] [-2] [-113] [-112] -> [10] [0] [0] [-113] - this is the extended version of the previous example, the the character with the ID number -2 should arrive to the third point, for the mission to be accomplished. This scheme can be used for such a mission: as soon as the target goes through a door, the assassin starts his way to the point of shooting, if he fails to kill the target (the player helps), then the target manages to reach a house and mission is accomplished.

9) When finished, save the results.

MIF Editor:

Use MIF Editor v0.1 to prepare descriptions of the created missions for X Operations 0.96.

MIF stands for Mission Information File. Every mission requires such a file.

Table 9. MIF Editor interface.

Paths to all the files are relative to the folder with the game.

I can't yet figure out the function of the F3 key (it is the same as in the Block Editor) and of the Insert key, that seems to create a point between two selected path-points.

05.06.2006
Smirnov Pavel
XOperations.narod.ru