@DATABASE TKG Editor Start Guide 4.1 (Italian) @NODE Main "Guida all'installazione e all'uso dell'editor di 'The Killing Grounds'" .---------------------------------. | @{"TKG" link immagini/TKG.IFF/main} @{b}EDITOR START GUIDE@{ub} @{fg highlight}4.1@{fg text} | `---------------------------------' @{b}LA GUIDA PER INSTALLARE ED USARE L'EDITOR DI KILLING GROUNDS.@{ub} @{" REQUISITI " LINK system} @{" L'AUTORE " Link autore} @{"HANNO DETTO" Link hannodetto} @{b}------------------------------------------------------------------------------@{ub} @{b}NING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - W@{ub} .-------------------------------------------------. | @{" The Killing Grounds EDITOR START GUIDE 4.1 " LINK start} | `-------------------------------------------------' @{b}NG - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WARNING - WAR@{ub} @{b}------------------------------------------------------------------------------@{ub} @{i}E dopo avere installato l'editor...@{ui} @{" INTRODUZIONE " LINK introd}@{" COSA HO A DISPOSIZIONE? " LINK dispo} @{" COME TESTO I MIEI LIVELLI? " LINK load}@{" VERY IMPORTANT " LINK edito} @{" ORIGINAL DOCS " LINK docs}@{" ANDY CLITHEROE AF TUTORIAL " LINK ac} @{" GFX Gallery " LINK gallery}@{" PASSARE I LIVELLI A TERZI " LINK passare} @{i}A guide by @{fg highlight}Simone Zannotti@{fg text} 1997-1998. @{ui} @{i}Made in Cagliari, la città del sole (Sardinia, Italy)@{ui} @ENDNODE @NODE hannodetto "HANNO DETTO DI QUESTA GUIDA:" MIRKO MARANGON (The Games Machine): "Un lavoro davvero niente male, che sicuramente risulterà ben più che utile a tutti i 'mapparoli' più incalliti" @ENDNODE @NODE ab3d3 "Waiting for AB3D3..." Chissà se verrà mai programmato un Alien Breed 3D 3. Immaginiamo per un attimo di si: quali miglioramenti vorreste vedere? AB3D3, MIGLIORAMENTI APPORTATI: 1. Motore 3D velocizzato e ottimizzato per tutti i processori; 2. Finestra di gioco di dimensioni variabili; 3. Il motore 3D gestisce ora anche muri inclinati; 4. Il motore 3D gestisce ora anche più di 2 soffitti e 2 pavimenti per zona; 5. Aumentato l'angolo di osservazione in alto e in basso (tipo Quake); 6. Editor di livelli programmato in C++ completo e versatile; 7. L'editor funzione ora a finestre, e può essere visualizzato in schermi a risoluzione variabile (tipo OctaMED Soundstudio); 8. Fixati tutti i bug del motore 3D; 9. Supportate tutte le principale schede grafiche sul mercato; 10. E' ora possibile animare l'acqua anche in verticale; 11. Entrando nell'acqua si ha ora la sensazione di esserci veramente (tipo Quake): cambiano i colori e vengono distorte le texture; 12. Aumentato il numero massimo di zone di cui può essere composto un livello; 13. Aumentato il numero massimo di texture per i muri; 14. Aumentato il numero massimo di texture per i pavimenti-soffitti; 15. Aumentato il numero massimo di texture per gli oggetti; 16. I nemici si possono muovere ora anche in diagonale; 17. I nemici hanno ora più frames di animazione; 18. Migliorato l'audio: inserite delle musiche e nuovi effetti sonori; 19. Migliorato il motore che gestisce gli effetti sonori: avvicinandosi ad ex. ad una fiamma, si sente sempre più vicino il suono del fuoco; viceversa, allontanandosi dalla fiamma il suono si fà via via sempre più debole; 20. Il gioco può essere avviato direttamente dal Workbench (eh,eh,eh...); Insomma, di cose da fare mi sembra che ce ne siano parecchie, tutto stà a vedere se il buon Andy avrà mai la voglia ed il tempo di rimettersi 'a tavola' a migliorare la sua creatura. @{b}Io sono ottimista@{ub}: dai vari 'docs' traspare una seria intenzione di Andy a completare (mi sembra il termine più azzeccato) il gioco, e sono sicuro che al più presto vedremo, se non un seguito completo, almeno una Mega-Patch per mettere fine a tutti i problemi maggiori (velocità, bugs, ecc.). Ora come ora, TKG è un ottima 'demo' che ci lascia intravedere di cosa è capace il suo programmatore: non deluderci Andy, siamo tutti con te!!! P.S. Qualcuno conosce l'indirizzo E-Mail di Andy? Se si, lo faccia circolare trà gli amighisti: dobbiamo far sapere ad Andy che stiamo aspettando un seguito per TKG! @ENDNODE @NODE gallery "Galleria di immagini" ATTENZIONE: Per poter utilizzare questa 'galleria' DOVETE avere installato l'editor completo (seguendo questa guida, of couse...) e quindi dovete avere creato l'assign per AB3. @{" MOSTRA I PAVIMENTI/SOFFITTI " link gallery_floors} @{" MOSTRA LE TEXTURE " link gallery_textures} @{" MOSTRA LE GLARE " link gallery_glares} @ENDNODE @NODE gallery_floors Clikka sul pavimento/soffitto che vuoi vedere: @{" Floor 1 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.1/main} @{" Floor 2 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.2/main} @{" Floor 3 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.3/main} @{" Floor 4 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.4/main} @{" Floor 5 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.5/main} @{" Floor 6 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.6/main} @{" Floor 7 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.7/main} @{" Floor 8 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.8/main} @{" Floor 9 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.9/main} @{" Floor 10 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.10/main} @{" Floor 11 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.11/main} @{" Floor 12 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.12/main} @{" Floor 13 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.13/main} @{" Floor 14 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.14/main} @{" Floor 15 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.15/main} @{" Floor 16 "link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.16/main} @ENDNODE @NODE gallery_textures Clikka sulla 'texture' che vuoi vedere: @{" Texture 1 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.1/main} @{" Texture 2 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.2/main} @{" Texture 3 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.3/main} @{" Texture 4 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.4/main} @{" Texture 5 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.5/main} @{" Texture 6 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.6/main} @{" Texture 7 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.7/main} @{" Texture 8 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.8/main} @{" Texture 9 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.9/main} @{" Texture 10 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.10/main} @{" Texture 11 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.11/main} @{" Texture 12 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.12/main} @{" Texture 13 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.13/main} @{" Texture 14 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.14/main} @{" Texture 15 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.15/main} @{" Texture 16 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.16/main} @{" Texture 17 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.17/main} @{" Texture 18 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.18/main} @{" Texture 19 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.19/main} @{" Texture 20 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.20/main} @{" Texture 21 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.21/main} @{" Texture 22 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.22/main} @{" Texture 23 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.23/main} @{" Texture 24 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.24/main} @{" Texture 25 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.25/main} @{" Texture 26 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.26/main} @{" Texture 27 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.27/main} @{" Texture 28 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.28/main} @{" Texture 29 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.29/main} @{" Texture 30 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.30/main} @{" Texture 31 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.31/main} @{" Texture 32 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.32/main} @ENDNODE @NODE gallery_glares Clikka sulla 'glare' che vuoi vedere: @{" Glare 1 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.1/main} @{" Glare 2 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.2/main} @{" Glare 3 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.3/main} @{" Glare 4 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.4/main} @{" Glare 5 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.5/main} @{" Glare 6 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.6/main} @{" Glare 7 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.7/main} @{" Glare 8 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.8/main} @{" Glare 9 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.9/main} @{" Glare 10 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.10/main} @{" Glare 11 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.11/main} @{" Glare 12 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.12/main} @{" Glare 13 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.13/main} @{" Glare 14 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.14/main} @{" Glare 15 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.15/main} @{" Glare 16 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.16/main} @{" Glare 17 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.17/main} @{" Glare 18 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.18/main} @{" Glare 19 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.19/main} @{" Glare 20 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.20/main} @{" Glare 21 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.21/main} @{" Glare 22 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.22/main} @{" Glare 23 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.23/main} @{" Glare 24 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.24/main} @{" Glare 25 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.25/main} @{" Glare 26 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.26/main} @{" Glare 27 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.27/main} @{" Glare 28 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.28/main} @{" Glare 29 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.29/main} @{" Glare 30 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.30/main} @{" Glare 31 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.31/main} @{" Glare 32 "link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Glare.32/main} @ENDNODE @NODE ac "Andy Tutorials" Tutorial by @{b}Andy Clitheroe@{ub}, programmatore di Alien Breed 3D 2. @{" WATER " LINK ac1} Tutorial 1 (Come inserire acqua in un livello) @{" OBJECTS " LINK ac2} Tutorial 2 (Come inserire oggetti bitmap in un livello) @ENDNODE @NODE ac2 @{b}OBJECTS@{ub} -------------- INTRODUCTION -------------- There are several types of object in the game, including activable, collectable, destructible and purely decorative types. Each type has some different parameters, which are all fairly self-explanatory, but they also have a lot in common, and it is these common elements which I will concentrate on today. First of all, each type of object can be one of the following graphical types: BITMAP VECTOR GLARE/SHADOW A @{b}BITMAP@{ub} object is the simplest graphical type, drawn in DPaint or Brilliance (or PPaint NDBoZ) and imported into the game via the '256obj' and 'compactobj' programs. A @{b}VECTOR@{ub} object is usually the nicest looking option, but requires the design of a three-dimensional object complete with texture maps. This design procedure is worthy of a separate tutorial of its own, and we really don't have the space here to do it justice. A @{b}GLARE/SHADOW@{ub} object is drawn like a bitmap object, but in a special way. You draw a 32-color image, but the colours of the image aren't used. Instead, the colour index (ie: 0-31) is used to either brighten (glare), darken (shadow) or leave unchanged the pixels behind the object: Colour 0: Leave background unchanged Colours 1-16: Brighten background pixels (1=very bright, 16=not very bright) Colours 17-31: Darken background pixels (17=slight shadow, 31=very dark shadow) I suggest setting up a suitable palette to draw your picture in, say: Colour 0: black, Colours 1-16: white-dark grey, Colours 17-31: dark red-bright red REMEMBER, this palette has NO EFFECT on what the object looks like in the game, it is strictly for your own reference purposes. Glare/shadow objects are very handy for things like lights in the roof or floor, and can be used by aliens as auxiliary objects, allowing for effects like the muzzle flash of their weapons or the big searchlights on the red guards. ------------- GO GO GO !! ------------- Assuming you are drawing either a bitmap or a glare/ shadow object, load in the graphics package of your choice and open a 32-colour screen. Now, decide on what size your object will be and draw a rectangle in the top left of the screen of the appropriate size. For things like ammo clips and medipacs, a size of 32x32 is good. Next, draw your object. It could be a medikit, or an ammo clip, or whatever you want. Done? Okay. Save it out and quit the art package. Open a shell and go into your beloved 'AB3:' directory. Type '256obj'. You will be asked for a filename: select the file you just saved. You will then be asked for the width of the screen you drew the picture on (probably 320) the number of frames of animation (one, if you only drew one picture), and the width and height of the frames (probably 32x32). NOTE: @{"click here!" LINK note} Okay, so you've generated and saved the file in '256obj'. One last thing to do: compress the data with 'compactobj'! Why? Because Alien Breed 3D and TKG both use real-time graphic decompression techniques, which was why they managed to squeeze all the graphics for all the aliens into just 2MB of memory, unlike some other games which could only have one or two different types of enemy in each level. 'Compactobj' just prompts for the name of a file created by '256obj' (256obj saves files with a '.dat' extension, so load the '.dat' file), thinks for a while and announces how much it managed to compress the data by. This can vary quite a lot (for example, it saved over 75% of the memory used by the little mutant guards in AB3D1, but nothing like that much for the pickups), but is usually between 40% and 70%. Once that is done, load in the game linker and select 'SET OBJECT GFX FRAMES' from the 'GRAPHICS' sub menu. Select an unused slot with the LEFT mouse button, and then select either the .PTR or .WAD file which was saved out by the 'compactobj' program. When you return to the list of object GFX filenames, click on the one you've just loaded, with the RIGHT mouse button this time. You will see a strip containing the graphics you drew (in a weird wrong palette if you drew a glare/ shadow picture) and some buttons at the bottom. If you were sensible and converted the graphics with the correct frame size, you can simply click on 'Generate frames from graphic data' and the work will done for you. If not, type in the top and left edge coordinates and the width and eight of the frame (something like 0,0,32,32). AND NOW A VERY-VERY IMPORTANT BUG: @{b}YOU WILL SEE THAT YOU HAVE DEFINED FRAME NUMBER '0' DURING THE PROCEDURE ABOVE. DUE TO A MISTAKE ON MY PART, YOU MUST REFER TO THIS AS FRAME '1' WHEN DEFINING ANIMATION SEQUENCES FOR OBJECTS. FRAME '1' IS REFERRED TO AS FRAME '2' etc. etc.@{ub} The reason for this is that in the alien animation you can enter NEGATIVE numbers to indicate that a frame is to be drawn on the screen flipped horizontally, and there is no such number as '-0'. Ok, you have now successfully imported a graphic image! Time to define an object to use these graphics: Go to 'OBJECTS:DEFINE OBJECT STATS' in the edit menu and click on an empty space with the LEFT mouse button. Type a name for your object. When you've pressed RETURN, click on the name with the RIGHT mouse button. You will be shown a list of options. Assuming you want a collectable object type, click on the object behaviour to obtain that option. Define the graphic type to be bitmap or glare/shadow depending on what you drew. Click on the two 'define given' buttons and select the amount of ammo, guns and health supplied by the object. Click on 'Collision cylinder radius' and set it to about 100. Click on 'Collision cylinder height' and set it to about 200. Make sure it is positioned vertically relative to the FLOOR. You probably don't want it locked to the nearest wall, so switch that option off. If you've got a sound effect loaded, click on 'collection sound effect' and select it. Last, but not least, click on 'define default state animation'. This brings up a large and scary screen with a line of dubious looking numbers and letters at the top, which is where you define a 'script' for the animation of your object. It's not all that complicated, though, so don't panic. Click here to see what the numbers mean: @{" " LINK script} And click here to know HOW TO HAVE LOTS OF DIFFERENT KEYS IN YOUR GAME:@{" " link manykeys} @ENDNODE @NODE manykeys You only have 30 objects to play with though, and wasting 13 of them on keys is a silly idea. So what do you do? Well, the solution is simple. Keys all behave the same, right? They all do the same thing and can be collected in the same way, so the only way they differ is in their appearance. So rather than having lots of similar objects, you simply define one 'passkey' object (or whatever). Draw all your different key graphics, convert and import them, then start defining your passkey animation script. Define as many lines of script as there are keys, selecting the appropriate GF, FN, SW and SH values for each one, and then (this is the clever bit), change the 'NF' value on each line TO POINT AT ITSELF. So there are now several independent 'loops' of animation in the script, each displaying a different key graphic. Now when you come to place the key in the level editor, you will notice a 'start frame' value which you can set to whatever line of the script you want. When the game is run the key will start on that animation script line, and the NF value ensures it stays there. Presto! You have a single object which can look like many different things, all of which behave the same way! @ENDNODE @NODE note The '256obj' program takes a 32 colour IFF picture and converts it into a single strip of graphics, which is framewidth x numframes in length and frameheight in height. The values you supply for framewidth and frameheight CAN the be extracted by the gamelinker to define the frames of animation within the strip, but you don't HAVE to. For example, I drew all the ammo and medipacks graphics on a single screen. Since they were all shapes and sizes, ranging from 16x16 to 64x32 to 32x64, it would have been a waste of memory to allocate them each a 64x64 space. Instead, I fitted them all into a single 320x64 pixel 'bar' of graphics, then used '256obj' to convert them, telling it to convert a single 320x64 pixel 'frame'. I could then, in the game linker, individually specify the coordinates and size of ACTUAL animation frames within the file. On the other hand, since all the frames for, say, the guard alien were 80x80, I arranged them each in their own 80x80 box on the screen and told '256obj' to convert 20-odd frames, each of which was 80x80. In the game linker, I could then use the 'generate frames from graphic data' button to instantly define all the frames of animation in the strip, rather than doing them all by hand. @ENDNODE @NODE script 0: The number of the animation LINE in this script. GF: The number of the graphic file this frame of animation will be drawn from. Click and select the one you've just loaded. FN: The frame number to be drawn from within the above graphic file. Click with the left mouse button to type a number (REMEMBER TO ADD 1). SW: Scaled width of image (for nice results, try the same as the horizontal res of the graphic you drew, eg 32). SH: Scaled height. Same kind of thing as above. VO: Vertical offset. Objects are placed with their 'centres' resting on the floor or ceiling depending on your preference (see above). With a vertical offset of zero, the graphic will ALSO be centred on that point, and will appear to be stuck half way into the floor/ceiling. This is obviously not desirable, so use this value to push the object up or down into the room. If the object's scaled height is, say, 32, a value of -32 will nicely position the object so it appears to rest on the ground. NF: Next LINE of animation script to go to (cioè prossima linea di animazione da eseguire). @ENDNODE @NODE ac1 @{b}WATER@{ub} First of all, water, because it's so simple. Load in your level and click on the 'water height' icon. Select a zone with the right mouse button and you will see the height of the floor, and the height of the water in that zone will be copied into the clipboard and displayed at the bottom of the screen. The water height is initially 256, well BELOW (remember, the convention is that positive means DOWNWARDS) the level of the floor. Now you can either press 'w' and type a water height into the clipboard, or use the '+' and '-' keys to change the value (SHIFT increases the rate of change). To paste the new water height into the level, click on the zones you want to put the new water height into with the left mouse button. Simple eh? Please note that, although you CAN put different water heights in adiacent zones, it will look very strange. Try it and see, if you want. Unfortunately you can't animate the level of the water because @{b}the water height animation icon doesn't work.@{ub} It might do in the future, but unfortunately there was insufficient time to implement the feature fully in the game. @ENDNODE /******************************************/ /******************************************/ /** **/ /** INIZIO DOCUMENTI ORIGINALI DEL GIOCO **/ /** **/ /******************************************/ /******************************************/ @NODE docs "I documenti originali dell'editor di TKG." Original docs by @{b}Team 17 & Ocean@{ub} 1996 1 @{" How to make a clean slate " LINK doc2} N.B. Usate la mia guida al posto di questo documento! 2 @{" How to start a new level " LINK doc1} 3 @{" How to change level names " LINK doc3} 4 @{" How to change the global palette " LINK doc4} 5 @{" How to create challenging levels " LINK doc5} 6 @{" How to incorporate sound effects " LINK doc6} 7 @{" How to change wall, floor and ceiling gfx " LINK doc7} = come inserire la grafica con il level editor; 8 @{" How to define players' appearance " LINK doc8} 9 @{" How to save a level to disk " LINK doc9} 10 @{" How to define bullet types " LINK doc10} 11 @{" How to define floor damage values & SFX " LINK doc11} = Quanto male fà camminare su un pavimento e che rumore fà; 12 @{" How to change floor and ceiling heights " LINK doc12} 13 @{" How to add doors and lifts to levels " LINK doc13} 14 @{" How to define player guns " LINK doc14} 15 @{" How to add teleporters to levels " LINK doc15} 16 @{" How to change level lighting " LINK doc16} 17 @{" How to add aliens to levels " LINK doc17} 18 @{" How to add objects to levels " LINK doc18} 19 @{" How to add control points to levels " LINK doc19} 20 @{" How to define aliens " LINK doc20} 21 @{" How to define bitmap alien animations " LINK doc21} 22 @{" How to use the animat. frame select. screen" LINK doc22} 23 @{" How to define objects " LINK doc23} 24 @{" How to incorporate object graphics " LINK doc24} 25 @{" How to incorporate vector objects " LINK doc25} 26 @{" How to draw floor & ceiling graphics " LINK doc26} 27 @{" How to convert floor & ceiling graphics " LINK doc27} 28 @{" How to incorporate converted fl.& ceil. gfx" LINK doc28} 29 @{" How to draw texture graphics " LINK doc29} 30 @{" How to convert texture graphics " LINK doc30} NEW! 31 @{" How to incorporate converted texture gfx " LINK doc31} 32 @{" How to draw wall graphics " LINK doc32} NEW! 33 @{" How to convert wall graphics " LINK doc33} 34 @{" How to incorporate converted wall gfx " LINK doc34} @ENDNODE @NODE doc34 HOW TO: Incorporate Converted Wall Graphics: ==================================== Once a wall has been converted from IFF format to the special .256wad format used by the game, it can be incorporated into your levels. To do this, you must modify the gamelink file. Here's how to go about it: 1. Run the GAMELINKER program; 2: Select 'LOAD LINK FILE' from the menu and select MYDIR/INCLUDES/TEST.LNK 3. Select GRAPHICS -> SET WALL GFX FILENAMES; 4. You will be presented with a list of currently loaded files. Pick one to overwrite, or the last (blank) one to add a new file. Click on it with the LEFT mouse button. 5. Select the .256wad file you wish to load; 6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all the new walls you want to load are loaded, then click on 'DONE'; 7. Select 'SAVE LINK FILE' and select the file MYDIR/INCLUDES/TEST.LNK The new walls will now be available in the level editor and the game itself! PLEASE NOTE: If you subsequently modify an existing wall graphic and reconvert it, you only need to execute the above procedure IF: 1. The width and/or height of the wall graphic has been changed OR 2. You have converted it to a different path or filename and wish to select it instead of the old version. @ENDNODE @NODE doc33 HOW TO: Convert Wall Graphics: ====================== Before graphics can be used in AB3DII they must be converted into a special, compressed format. NOTE: Wall graphics MUST obey the following rules: 1. They MUST be in 32 colours, IFF format. The palette you use is up to you, but they must be drawn on a 32 colour screen; 2. They MUST be a power of 2 in height i.e. 16 (min),32,64,128 (max) pixels high. The height of the screen they are drawn on is unimportant, but the graphics themselves must comply to this rule; It is a good idea to keep all the wall graphics you are going to use in a separate directory, for example: MYDIR WALLGFX and to keep all the converted files in another directory, e.g. MYDIR WALLINC If you have a picture which you want to convert, e.g. MYDIR WALLGFX examplewall then you should run the 'WALLCONVERT' program provided. This program will prompt you for a filename to load. Select your file, and follow the on screen instructions. You will be asked for various parameters including height in pixels and width in pixels. Once conversion is complete you will be prompted for a filename to save, e.g.: MYDIR WALLINC examplewall This file is in the correct format to be used in AB3DII. The program will automatically append '.256wad' to the filename you supply, so if you click on an existing file to over-write, make sure you delete the '.256wad' from the end before selecting OK or pressing RETURN. @ENDNODE @NODE doc32 @{b}N.B. QUESTO DOC NON E' STATO INCLUSO INSIEME ALL'EDITOR, NE' INSIEME ALLA PATCH.@{ub} HOW TO: Draw Wall Graphics: =================== 1. Caricate un programma di grafica semplice, ad ex. Personal Paint o Deluxe Paint; 2. Selezionate la bassa risoluzione a 32 colori; 3. Fate apparire sullo schermo le coordinate (sia PPaint che DPaint hanno questa opzione); 4. Ok, ora potete disegnare IN ALTO A SINISTRA il vostro muro, seguendo queste regole: - Il muro DEVE essere a 32 colori - I 32 colori sono a vostra scelta; - Il muro DEVE essere largo 16,32,64 oppure 128 pixel; - L'altezza del muro è a vostra scelta; - Il muro DEVE essere salvato in formato IFF; - Salvate il muro nella directory 'AB3D2:WallGFX/' N.B. Per farvi un idea di cosa dovete disegnare, osservate questo: @{" Show me! " link AB3:WallGFX/TECHNOTRITILE/main} @ENDNODE @NODE doc31 HOW TO: Incorporate Converted Texture Graphics: ======================================= PLEASE NOTE: If you change texture graphics, and save over your existing texture file when converting them, you DO NOT NEED to follow this proceedure. Only if the name of the texture file has changed do you need to proceed. 1. Run the GAMELINKER program; 2. Select 'LOAD LINK FILE' from the menu and select MYDIR/INCLUDES/TEST.LNK 3. Select GRAPHICS -> SET TEXTURE FILENAME; 4. Select the file you wish to load, presumably created using the 'FLOORCONVERT' utility; 7. Select 'SAVE LINK FILE' and select the file MYDIR/INCLUDES/TEST.LNK The new floor tile file will now be available in the level editor and the game itself! @ENDNODE @NODE doc30 @{b}N.B. QUESTO DOC NON E' STATO INCLUSO INSIEME ALL'EDITOR, NE' INSIEME ALLA PATCH.@{ub} HOW TO: Convert Texture Graphics: ========================= 1. Caricate il programma '256 texture'; 2. Aspettate che il programma abbia finito di convertire tutte le vostre texture; 3. Salvate il risultato nella directory 'Includes' con il nome 'newtexturemaps'; 4. Finito! @ENDNODE @NODE doc29 HOW TO: Draw Texture Graphics: ====================== Texture graphics MUST be drawn individually on 32 colour screens. They must be drawn as a 64*64 pixel square located in the top left hand corner of the screen you draw them on. Each texture picture can have its own 32 colour palette independant of the other textures. There must be 32 of them before they can be used in the game, although you can always make 32 copies of a 'default' texture, and replace them as you design new ones. They MUST be located, for compatability, in the directory: AB3:GRAPHICS/TEXTURES/ And they MUST be called either TEXTURE.X or GLARE.X where X is a number from 1 to 32. GLARE textures are special. You MUST draw them in the 32 colour palette provided on the editor disk: GRAPHICS/GLAREPAL When drawing a GLARE texture, anything left BLACK is perfectly transparent. Anything drawn in shades of WHITE will appear 'added' to the background in the game, so dim white will look pale and transparent, whilst bright white will look solid and, well, bright. Shades of RED represent progressively more opaque shades of shadow, with BRIGHT RED representing almost pure black. Smoke and other effects can be created using these shades. REMEMBER: you MUST use the palette provided for the effect to work! GLARE textures can only be used on GLARE polygons, and TEXTURE textures can only be used on NON-GLARE polygons. N.B. Per farvi un idea di cosa dovete disegnare, osservate questo: @{" Show me! " link AB3:Graphics/Textures/Texture.8/main} @ENDNODE @NODE doc28 HOW TO: Incorporate Converted Floor/Ceiling Graphics: ============================================= PLEASE NOTE: You do not need to follow this procedure if you have converted your floor graphics and saved them over the existing texture file. Only if you have created a new file or changed the name or path of the old file do you need to proceed further. 1. Run the GAMELINKER program; 2. Select 'LOAD LINK FILE' from the menu and select MYDIR/INCLUDES/TEST.LNK 3. Select GRAPHICS -> SET FLOOR TILE FILENAME; 4. Select the file you wish to load, presumably created using the 'FLOORCONVERT' utility; 7. Select 'SAVE LINK FILE' and select the file MYDIR/INCLUDES/TEST.LNK The new floor tile file will now be available in the level editor and the game itself! @ENDNODE @NODE doc27 HOW TO: Convert Floor/Ceiling Graphics: =============================== For this to work, you must place all your floor and ceiling tiles in a single directory. There must be exactly 16 of them, and they must be called FLOOR.1 . . . . . . FLOOR.16 If you don't have enough different tiles, it's a good idea to have one 'default tile' which you make 16 copies of and over-write when you create new ones. This way you can test out the ones you HAVE drawn. Run the 'FLOORCONVERT' program. Use the requester to select the DIRECTORY in which the floor tiles are located. DO NOT select an individual floor tile, but make sure their names are visible in the requester. The program is fully automatic, loading and converting the graphics, then matching colours to the ones in AB3:INCLUDES/256PAL for this reason, make sure you have set up the assign for AB3: to the directory you are building your game in. When the program is finished, just select the save name under which you wish to save the floor tile file, and the program will self-terminate after saving is complete. See document 'HOW2-Incorporate_Floor_Ceiling_Graphics' for instructions on incorporating them into your game. @ENDNODE @NODE doc26 HOW TO: Draw Floor (and ceiling) Graphics: ================================== Floor graphics MUST be drawn individually on 32 colour screens. They must be drawn as a 64*64 pixel square located in the top left hand corner of the screen you draw them on. Each texture picture can have its own 32 colour palette independant of the other textures. There must be 16 of them before they can be used in the game, although you can always make 16 copies of a 'default' texture, and replace them as you design new ones. They MUST be located, for compatability, in a single directory, and they MUST be called FLOOR.X where X is a number from 1 to 16. N.B. Per farvi un idea di cosa dovete disegnare, osservate questo: @{" Show me! " link AB3:Graphics/Floors/Floor.16/main} @ENDNODE @NODE doc25 HOW TO: Incorporate Vector Objects: =========================== If you've spent the last three weeks thrashing around with the unwieldy and unfriendly vector object editors (sorry Charles :->) (bello invece il tuo 'leved'...NDBoZ) you'll probably want to see them in the game, whether as objects or aliens or guns or whatever. Before you can use them, you have to load them into the game link file: 1. Load the link file into the game linker as usual; 2. Select VECTORS -> SET VECTOR FILENAMES; 3. Click on a name to replace OR a blank space to load a new file; 4. Select a file written out by the ANIMEDITOR program; Click on 'DONE' and save the link file again! @ENDNODE @NODE doc24 HOW TO: Incorporate Object Graphics: ============================ Before any aliens or pickups can be defined, you must provide the graphics for them, and before you can do that, they must be converted using the appropriate supplied utilities. Please refer to the document HOW2-Convert_Object_Graphics for full instructions on creating these files. Assuming you have converted some object graphics and wish to use them in the game, here is how to go about incorporating them: 1. Load the GAMELINKER program and load the 'TEST.LNK' file in the usual way; 2. Select GRAPHICS -> SET OBJECT GFX FRAMES; 3. You will see a list of currently loaded graphics and a blank space for inserting a new one. Either click on one to replace, or click on the blank space. In either case, you must use the LEFT mouse button. Use the requester which appears to select EITHER the '.ptr' or '.wad' file produced by the convertors. 4. Assuming all is well, the filename will appear in the list on the screen. Now you must define the frames of animation within the file. Click on the name but this time with the RIGHT mouse button. 5. You will be shown a strip of the graphics, in the height you converted them. Do not worry if the palette is not right; this is a failing of AMOS. The following will be shown also, at the bottom of the screen: X,Y These are the mouse coordinates within the graphic file. Clicking with the LEFT mouse button with the cursor within the graphic file area of the screen copies the X and Y value shown into the FRAME LEFT and FRAME TOP values below. SCROLL LEFT SCROLL RIGHT These buttons can be clicked upon to scroll the graphic file across to display parts of it currently off-screen. FRAME NUMBER This is the frame number you are currently defining, from 0 to 31. PREVIOUS/NEXT FRAME Changes the current frame number. FRAME LEFT FRAME TOP FRAME WIDTH FRAME HEIGHT These values represent the left side, top side, width and height of the current frame. You can click upon and type to change any of them, the idea being that they enclose each seperate 'frame' of animation you have designed. COPY WIDTH/HEIGHT TO PREVIOUS/NEXT FRAMES These options allow you to quickly copy the width and height you have typed into the current frame into all previous or succeeding frames. GENERATE FRAMES FROM GRAPHIC DATA If you have drawn and converted the graphics in line with the guidelines set down in the document 'HOW2-Convert_Object_Graphics', you can shortcut this whole process and click on this button. The position and size of all the frames will be defined. However, you cannot use this function if some frames are different sizes, or located at different heights within the graphic file. In such cases you must simply type or click all the values in manually. DONE Return to graphic file list. @ENDNODE @NODE doc23 HOW TO: Define Objects: =============== The term 'Object' in AB3DII has quite a broad meaning. Basically, anything which isn't a bullet, a player, an alien or background (walls, floors and ceilings) is an object. There are several main types that an object can be, and this determines its behaviour: 1. Collectable The object may be collected by the player. When this happens, the player will recieve whatever ammunition or other supplies the object is defined to provide, and the object will remove itself from the map. Once so removed it will also cease to hold any doors and lifts. 2. Activatable The object can be 'activated' by the player being within its activation radius and pressing the space bar. When this happens the object switches to 'active mode'. The player can switch it back, or it can 'timeout' and return to its inactive state. Whilst active the object will cease to hold any doors or lifts. 3. Destructable The object can be damaged by player bullets and explosions. Once destroyed it will cease to hold any doors or lifts, and will no longer impede the player. 4. Decoration The object cannot be interacted with in any way and simply sits there playing through its animation sequence. To define an object, select OBJECTS -> DEFINE OBJECT STATS. Click on an empty space or an object you want to redefine with the LEFT mouse button, and type the new name. Clicking on the object with the RIGHT mouse button instead takes you into the actual definiton screen. On this screen are several options, some of which are only visible for certain types of object. They are listed here in top-bottom order: 1. Type Of Object Click to cycle through the four types above. 2. Graphic Type Click to cycle through: BITMAP Simplest type of object; uses ordinary bitmap graphics; POLYGON An object of this type uses frames of animation from 3D objects designed using the ANIMEDITOR program; GLARE/SMOKE The object is drawn transparently, brightening or darkening the graphics behind it. See HOW2-Draw_Glare_Objects for instructions. 3. Deactivate after.. ONLY FOR ACTIVATABLE OBJECTS This value is the time in 50ths of a second between the player activating the object and it deactivating automatically. 3. Number Of Hit Points ONLY FOR DESTRUCTABLE OBJECTS The number of damage points the object can take before it is destroyed. 4. Explosive Potential ONLY FOR DESTRUCTABLE OBJECTS The explosive force with which the object detonates upon its destruction. 5. Impassable in default state DESTRUCTABLE AND DECORATION OBJECTS ONLY Does the object obstruct the player until destroyed? This value gives you the answer. 6. [ Define Default state Animation ] Clicking here provides you with a screen containing information about the default animation sequence for an object. The values and buttons you can use are as follows: BITMAP AND GLARE OBJECTS: ------------------------- 0: The number of the animation LINE in this script. GF: Graphic file to read the frame of animation from. Click on the number to pick one of your object-graphic filenames. FN: Frame to draw from within the selected graphic file. Click here with the LEFT mouse button to simply type a number in, or click with the RIGHT mouse button to be shown the ANIMATION FRAME SELECTION SCREEN. See the document 'HOW2-Use_Animation_Frame_Selection_Screen' for details, as this screen is re-used several times in the program. SW+SH: Scaled Width and Scaled Height of graphic on-screen. Values similar to those defined in the animation frame in the graphic file are about right, although you can squash any size and shape of graphic into any size and shape of box. SW and SH have a maximum value of 255. VO: Vertical offset. By varying the vertical offset, you can make objects bounce or wobble up and down as they animate. For this to work, you will need several frames of animation. NF: Next LINE of animation script to go to (cioè prossima linea di animazione da eseguire). Click on this and then select the next line of animation script to go to. In this way you can make objects perform a loop within their animation, or as is more usual, stop on the last frame rather than looping back to the beginning (eg switches). ADD FRAME: Adds a frame to the end of the list, copying all the values from the previous last in the list to the new last in the list. It is therefore a good idea to set up the first frame with the graphic file, scaled width and height and so on, then add more frames and just tweak the values you want to change afterwards. DEL FRAME: Removes the last frame in the list. VECTOR OBJECTS: --------------- VF: Vector file to read the frame of animation from. Click on the number to pick one of your vector filenames. FN: Frame to draw from within the selected graphic file. Click here with the LEFT mouse button to simply type a number in. AO: The amount the object should turn this frame. A value of 8192 represents 360 degrees. VO: Vertical offset. By varying the vertical offset, you can make objects bounce or wobble up and down as they animate. For this to work, you will need several frames of animation. NF: Next Frame Number. Click on this and then select the 'next frame' you want the object to change to after the one you just clicked on. In this way you can make objects perform a loop within their animation, or as is more usual, stop on the last frame rather than looping back to the beginning (eg switches). This is also extremely useful for GUN objects. See the file 'HOW2-Define_Gun_Objects' for fuller instructions after reading the rest of THIS file. ADD FRAME: Adds a frame to the end of the list, copying all the values from the previous last in the list to the new last in the list. It is therefore a good idea to set up the first frame with the graphic file, then add more frames and just tweak the values you want to change afterwards. DEL FRAME: Removes the last frame in the list. 7. [ Define Active/Destroyed Animation ] Similar to 6. except that this is the animation which will be played when the object is activated or destroyed. It is ALSO the sequence displayed if this object is defined as the ON-SCREEN OBJECT of a player gun. 8. [ Define Guns/Jetpack/Shield Given ] Clicking here brings a list of toggles as to what the object provides the player with when he collects or activates it. NB: Jetpack and shield are not implemented in this version. 9. [ Define Ammo/Fuel given ] Clicking here gives a list of what ammo and health is given by the object when collected/activated. Hence a 'gun' object would give the player the appropriate gun, and also some of the ammo that the gun fires. NB: Fuel is not implemented in this version. 10. Collision cylinder radius This is the distance a player has to be within to collect or activate the object. About 100-150 is usually about right. 11. Collision cylinder height This is the height within which the player must be to collect the object. About 100 is usually ok. 12. Position vertically relative to: Either the FLOOR or the CEILING can be toggled between here, and the object will be positioned next to the one selected. Thus the Vertical Offset in the animation data is important to pull the object up or down into the room. 13. Lock to nearest wall? If this is enabled, then the object will 'snap' to the nearest wall when placed in the level and will face outwards into the room (vector objects only). 14. Activation/Collection/Destruction sound effect Click here to set the appropriate sound effect for whatever action is appropriate to the type of object. @ENDNODE @NODE doc22 HOW TO: Use the Animation Frame Selection Screen: ========================================= The Animation Frame Selection screen gives a more graphically meaningful way of selecting frames from your object graphic files. You will see an image (if one is defined for the graphic file you selected) in the top left hand corner, and some buttons below: [ PREV FRAME ] [ NEXT FRAME ] Clicking on these cycles through the frames defined in the graphic file; [ FLIP HORIZONTALLY ] clicking on this flips the graphic. Useful for re-using side-on movement frames for both left and right movement; Current Frame: Shows the number of the current frame in the graphic file being displayed; DONE Return to wherever you called the screen up from, using the frame and orientation you selected. @ENDNODE @NODE doc21 HOW TO: Define Bitmap Alien Animations: =============================== This document assumes that you have read and understood the 'HOW2-Define_Aliens' document and that you have got as far as selecting the [ DEFINE ANIMATION FRAMES ] option from the alien statistics screen. You will see a list of all the animations which an alien will perform. NB: The diagonal views (Front-left, Front-right, Back-left and Back-right) are NOT IMPLEMENTED in the current version, so don't bother drawing or defining animations of aliens in those directions. All the animations have the same format, but their usage varies as follows: The 'movement' animations refer to the various directions it is possible to see the alien from as it walks/flies around. These animations are played looped, ie when the last frame is reached, animation continues from the first frame. NB: It is VERY important that all the direction animations have the same number of frames. This is because, to improve continuity, the program DOES NOT reset the animation when your view of an alien changes. In other words, if it reaches frame 5 whilst walking away from you, then turns left, it will start from frame 5 as it walks left. The other, 'action' animations are one-shot anims played when the specified action occurs. DEFINING AN ANIMATION SEQUENCE ------------------------------ Click on the animation sequence you wish to define. You will see a complicated looking line of values at the top, and buttons for adding a new frame to the end of the list and deleting the last in the list. As for objects and bullets, when a new frame is added, it takes on the values of its predecessor, so set up invariants, for example which graphic file the frames are from, before adding frames. The values, from left to right, are: 0-19 Frame number GF: Graphic File. This is the number of the file the frame is to come from. Click on the value and then on the name of the file you have previously loaded. FN: Frame number. This is the actual frame within the graphic file which will be drawn. An 'R' in front of the number indicates the frame will be flipped horizontally before drawing on-screen. This is handy as you can have one set of frames for left AND right movement, with the computer flipping them as needed. SW: Scaled Width. This is the width to which the frame will be scaled (Not including the effects of distance). Must be 255 or less. Click to change. SH: Scaled Height. This is the height to which the frame will be scaled (Not including the effects of distance). Must be 255 or less. Click to change. VO: Vertical offset. Normally the frame is drawn centred on the alien's positon, however with this value you can offset each frame vertically by a set amount, perhaps to make it appear to bob up and down. Click to change. FX: This is the number of the sound effect which will be played whenever the alien reaches this frame of animation. Click on the number to get a list of currently loaded sound effects, and click on an effect OR at the top of the screen for no effect. With this you can easily synchronise footstep sounds with the correct frames of animation on-screen, or shooting effects with the precise frame the gun appears to fire! AC: Action Star. Clicking next to this toggles on and off an 'action star'. If an action star is present, the alien will perform an action, such as moving or shooting. The precise nature of the action is dependant upon which animation sequence you are defining. Using the action stars you can make an alien walk slowly by having a sequence like this: 0 GF: 1 FN: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: * 1 GF: 1 FN: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: 2 GF: 1 FN: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: 3 GF: 1 FN: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: 4 GF: 1 FN: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: * 5 GF: 1 FN: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: 6 GF: 1 FN: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: 7 GF: 1 FN: 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AC: Assuming frames 1 and 2 are part of a walking sequence, the above would instruct the computer to display each frame for 4 time units, and only move the alien in the first of the four time units, thus preventing the alien 'moonwalking' between frames. You can make an alien fire a specific number of times by including several repetitions of the shooting animation, with an Action Star next to the appropriate frame in each repetition. AI: Animation Instruction. Usually, this contains a downward arrow 'v', indicating that the animation will proceed to the next frame in sequence (or to the first if the last one is reached). However, it is sometimes very useful to be able to repeat a certain sequence a set number of times, or perhaps even a random number of times. There are therefore another 3 Animation Instructions: S X Store number X in counter; R X Add a random number between 0 and X to the counter; D X Subtract 1 from the counter, and jump to frame X if the result was NOT zero. Hence you could make an alien howl, then take a random number of steps between 10 and 20 before howling again, like this: 0 GF: 1 FN: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . FX: 3 AC: AI S10 1 GF: 1 FN: 5 . . . . . . . . . . . FX: 0 AC: AI R10 2 GF: 1 FN: 1 . . . . . . . . . . . FX: 0 AC: * AI v * WALKING ANIMATION 9 GF: 1 FN: 4 . . . . . . . . . . . FX: 0 AC: * AI D 2 Click and follow the instructions to change the AI value of a frame. AUX: Auxilliary object frame number. This selects a frame defined in the auxilliary object for that alien to be displayed over the top of the alien. Click on the value and you will be shown the animation sequence you defined for the auxilliary object. Simply click on the appropriate frame OR at the top of the screen for no frame. XO: Auxilliary object X Offset. The amount by which the centre of the auxilliary object is offset from the centre of the alien graphic. Useful for gun barrel flashes, so you can make gun flashes appear over the top of the gun they appear from, wherever the gun may be! YO: Auxilliary object Y Offset. As above, but vertically rather than horizontally. @ENDNODE @NODE doc20 HOW TO: Define Aliens: ============== This is probably the most arduous task facing the prospective game designer, as it requires the most data to be input. Select ALIENS -> DEFINE ALIEN STATS. You will be shown a list of aliens to define. To change their name, click on the existing name and type the new one. You can copy an aliens name and characteristics by clicking on the appropriate 'COPY' button and clicking on the target space. You can also change the scale of an alien by clicking on the button near the bottom of the screen, then clicking on the alien in question, then typing the percentage by which you wish to scale the alien. NOTE: The game DOES NOT REMEMBER any previous sizes you have defined for aliens, so if you scale an alien up by 200%, you CANNOT scale it down again by scaling it by 100% later on. You must scale it by 50% to reduce it to the first size you gave it. Clicking on DEFINE CHARACTERISTICS of an alien brings up the following menu: --------------- 1. GRAPHIC TYPE --------------- This can be one of three main types: BITMAP The alien will use standard bitmap graphics converted by the OBJECTCONVERTOR program. The alien will only be lightsourced so far as to be made brighter in bright rooms and dimmer in dark rooms. This option is the one used in all other games of this sort. VECTOR If you have designed animation frames for a vector alien, you can specify that you wish to use them by selecting this option. LIGHTSOURCED PALETTE 1/2/3/4 These options can be selected, but you won't be able to use them because the support programs for producing lightsourced graphics were not included in this package. Look out for a coverdisk with tutorials and support programs soon! For now, you'll have to be content with the options above. ------------------------------ 2. [ DEFINE ANIMATION FRAMES ] ------------------------------ If you are designing a BITMAP alien, consult the file HOW2-Define_Alien_Animations otherwise check out HOW2-Define_Vector_Alien_Anims AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE REST OF THIS FILE!!! -------------------- 3. Default Behaviour -------------------- Aliens can either walk, or fly. This can be indicated by either WALK RANDOMLY or FLY RANDOMLY being selected (click to toggle). ---------------- 4. Reaction time ---------------- This is the amount of time the alien must see you for (uninterrupted) before it will notice you and take appropriate action. If you shoot it and it doesn't die, it will immediately spot you. This value is measured in 50ths of a second. If your aliens are too easy, try decreasing this value rather than increasing hit points or whatever. ------------------------- 5. Default Movement Speed ------------------------- This is the speed which the alien wanders around at when it can't see you and is not attacking. 5 is an average sort of speed, 10 is zippy and more than 10 is ludicrous. --------------------- 6. Response Behaviour --------------------- This is what the alien will do when it notices you; either: CHARGE Run straight at player, biting and munching him when close enough; CHARGE TO SIDE Run towards player, keeping out of line of fire, biting when close enough; ATTACK WITH GUN Execute the 'attacking frames' animation, with each 'action star' corresponding to a bullet being fired; There are three more options, identical to the above but for flying aliens. -------------------------- 7. Response Movement Speed -------------------------- Only used in charging aliens, this governs how quickly the alien will charge. ------------------- 8. Response Timeout ------------------- You can make the alien 'get bored' and stop charging after a certain amount of time. IF you don't want this to happen, type in a nice big number like 10000, representing over three minutes! Value is measured in 50ths of a second. -------------------------------- 9. Damage Taken Limit -> Retrest -------------------------------- NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION -------------------------------------- 10. Damage Inflicted Limit -> Followup -------------------------------------- NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION ---------------------- 11. Followup Behaviour ---------------------- Once the alien has executed its attack animation, or has timed out of its response counter, it will 'followup'. In this mode it can: PAUSE.....................Stop dead for a moment, watching you; Approach..................Move straight towards player (but inflicts no damage when it reaches him); Approach To Side..........Same as above, but keeping out of line of fire; Approach flying...........Same as above but flying; Approach to side flying...Do I really need to explain? --------------------------- 12. Followup Movement Speed --------------------------- The speed at which the alien will approach you (if at all). -------------------- 13. Followup Timeout -------------------- Assuming the alien can still see you once this timer expires, it will attack again. This value is measured in 50ths of a second. ------------------------------------------------------------ 14. RETREAT BEHAVIOUR/RETREAT MOVEMENT SPEED/RETREAT TIMEOUT ------------------------------------------------------------ NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION. ------------------------ 15. NUMBER OF HIT POINTS ------------------------ The 'toughness' of the alien. Think about how tough you want the alien to be relative to each of your guns. Do you want it to keel over after a single shotgun blast? Then make its hit points less than the damage done by your shotgun rounds. Want it to soak up rockets and laugh chestily? Then make its hit points HUGE, so that the damage of the rocket PLUS its explosive force (the maximum amount of damage it can do to an alien or yourself) is much less. ------------------- 16. Physical Height ------------------- How tall is your alien? To make it walk on the ground, a good height to use is TWICE the SH (Scaled Height) of the animation frames you are using. Notice that aliens CANNOT WALK into rooms whose floor-ceiling height is LESS than this value, and CANNOT MOVE in rooms which are too short if you plonk them in there to begin with. ----------------------------- 17. Minimum distance to walls ----------------------------- Small or thin aliens can get quite close to walls, so a value of 0 will suffice. But if it's a fat beasty, a value of 1 or 2 will prevent it squeezing unrealisically into narrow tunnels. ---------------------------------- 18. Projectiles Ejected Upon Death ---------------------------------- Clicking on this will bring up a list of projectiles (bullets) which the alien can splurt out when it dies. Interestingly, you can make it spit out actual bullets (as long as they are VISIBLE ones) when it dies, thus allowing sneaky aliens to hemmorhage grenades as their innards rupture, which makes the player's situation just a little dicey... Alternatively, you can choose to click on 'Select Alien to spawn instead' and pick a type of alien. Upon death, the alien will spawn FOUR of the aliens you selected. Please don't be silly and make aliens spawn themselves, or make them spawn other aliens which in turn spawn them back. You'll only get annoyed playing the game as hordes of replicating aliens engulf you mercilessly. -------------------------- 19. Auxilliary Object Type -------------------------- Click on this and select an object whose frames have been set up correctly. By 'correctly', what do I mean? Well, if you define a DECORATION object, and make it look like an animation of a gun barrel flash, you can use it as an AUXILLIARY OBJECT. At any point in any animation sequence for the alien, you can make the game paste a frame from the auxilliary object somewhere over the top of the alien graphic. This is how the muzzle flashes and glaring lights of the various alien guards were produced. Auxilliary objects may be BITMAP or GLARE/SHADOW, but not VECTOR. If you are not using any auxilliary graphics on the alien, you don't have to define this value at all. -------------------- 20. Torch Brightness -------------------- Aliens can carry 'torches', illuminating the level in front of them. A value of 30 is a reasonable torch brightness, whilst a value of 0 indicates no torch. --------------------------------- 21. Bullet Source X and Y offsets --------------------------------- These value indicate how far from the centre of the alien its bullets should originate. This is largely a matter of trial and error, but remember that negative values mean the bullet comes from the left or the top, whilst positive values mean the right or the bottom. @ENDNODE @NODE doc19 HOW TO: Add Control Points to Levels: ============================= Control points are a wonderful new invention which allows aliens to follow you all over the level without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace. Erm. Ok, what control points actually do is give the aliens a 'road map' of the level; sort of invisible lines on the floor for them to trundle around. Such paths have been used in other games to make aliens patrol around convincingly. The difference with AB3D is that the aliens can use this map to get to you, if they know where you are, from the other side of the level, assuming there is a path from where they are to where you are. Also, if you make a sound somewhere near to an alien which is active, it will 'hear it' and run to the control point it heard the sound coming from. If you continue shooting, therefore, it will eventually make its way all the way over to where you are! In the diagram below, for example, the player is standing near control point A. He has just fired his gun, and the alien at point C will therefore run to control point B, which is the one towards where the player is. When the alien reaches point B it will listen for the player to make more sounds, trying to see if it can track him further. If it doesn't hear anything, it will wander off looking for him! A (Player) +---------------------+ | | | B | +------------+ C (Alien) | | | | | | | | +---------------+-----------+ PLACING CONTROL POINTS ---------------------- Control points must be joined with straight lines and MUST NOT cross walls which the aliens cannot climb over. Therefore control points must be placed at all junctions and corners so that aliens can navigate properly. Also, if you want aliens to venture into a dead end, even if it is only a short one, you must put a control point near the end of the dead end. 1. To place control points, select the icon on the right hand end of the scrollable icon bar; it looks like the 'add point' icon only with a pink dot rather than a green one. 2. Move the cursor into the edit area and click where you want to position a control point with the mouse buttons. If you click the LEFT mouse button, the control point will be pink, indicating that it is in the LOWER part of a zone. If instead you use the RIGHT mouse button, the control point will be BLUE, indicating that it is in the upper part of the zone. Hence you can cause aliens to navigate across winding gantries without falling off. NB YOU CAN ONLY HAVE 100 CONTROL POINTS PER LEVEL SO USE THEM WISELY! You can also MOVE control points by clicking on the 'O->' icon, grabbing a control point by moving the cursor over it and pressing 'g', then placing it somewhere else by clicking with the left or right mouse buttons as above. LINKING CONTROL POINTS ---------------------- So that the aliens can move around, you must link the control points together. There are two ways they can be linked: PHYSICALLY or VISUALLY. Points linked PHYSICALLY describe a route for walking aliens. Points linked VISUALLY describe extra routes for flying aliens. Hence if you have a chasm with walkways on either side, the control points on each walkway would be linked visually, because flying aliens could get across but walking aliens could not. Control points which are linked PHYSICALLY are assumed to also be linked VISUALLY (but not the other way around). PHYSICAL links may be one-directional or two-directional. ONE directional links may only be walked in one direction but are linked VISUALLY in both directions; TWO directional links may be walked in both directions. NB: If an alien cannot physically reach you (eg an impassable chasm or an unclimbable cliff), but DOES know where you are, he may attempt to reach a position linked VISUALLY to your position so he can take pot shots at you. To take a simple example: say the player is on top of a cliff. Below him is a gorge, across which there is no bridge. There is a staircase leading up to the OTHER side of the gorge from the bottom, but not up to the side the player is on. Imagine there are several walking aliens with guns in the bottom of the gorge. The player doesn't want to jump down with them still there, so he keeps popping out and shooting, then ducking back out of harms way. The aliens cannot reach him, and nor can they see him properly from the bottom of the gorge. They will therefore climb the staircase to the other rim of the gorge where they can see the player and shoot at him! 1. Select the 'link control points' icon. This is near to the 'add control point' icon and looks like a pink dot with three black lines radiating from it. 2. Clicking on a control point (say point A) and then on another (say point B) with the LEFT mouse button toggles the PHYSICAL LINK from A to B. Clicking on them in the opposite order toggles the link from B to A. To link them two-directionally, therefore, it is necessary to click A, then B, then B again, and finally A. One-directional links are indicated by a red arrow indicating the possible direction of travel; two directional links are indicated by a blue, unarrowed line. 3. Clicking on a control point (A) and then on another (B) with the RIGHT mouse button toggles the VISUAL link between the two points. If the two points are already linked visually, the link will be removed. If they are linked physically in one or two directions, or not linked at all, the existing link (or lack of it) will be replaced by a purple line indicating a VISUAL link. OTHER TOOLS: ------------ Obviously it is unreasonable to expect someone to click-click-click their way through a room containing 20+ control points, so it is only (usually) necessary to define the PHYSICAL links by hand. The VISUAL links can be auto-generated by pressing RSHIFT and V together, with the cursor somewhere in the edit area. Visual links will be automatically created between any points with a line of sight between them which are not already linked physically. This takes a little while, but console yourself with the thought that it's about 250,000 times faster than you could do it by hand. NOTE: If you have a tall pillar with a control point on either side, then the autolinker WILL link the two points, because there is no hole in the map seperating them. The ONLY time the autolinker will not link points across a zone is if that zone's roof and floor are at the same height; ie no travel across it is possible at ANY height. ASSOCIATING CONTROL POINTS WITH ZONES: -------------------------------------- Since you can have up to 256 zones but only 100 control points, it seems fairly obvious that not all zones can have a control point in them. Therefore the question of which control point an alien is nearest when standing in any particulat zone must be decided by you in advance. This can be done in two ways, both of which begin by clicking on the 'associate zone with control point' icon (which looks like a small triangle near to a pink dot). Next, you either 1. Select a zone with the RIGHT mouse button and click on the control point you want to associate with it with the LEFT mouse button. Make it a reasonable choice, ie don't pick a point on the other side of a solid wall. Repeat this process with each zone until you have covered the whole level. UPPERS: This process is VERY accurate and yields the most bug-free maps; DOWNERS: It takes AGES, and it's easy to forget to do certain bits of the map. 2. Press RSHIFT and A together with the cursor on the edit area. This will auto-associate zones and control points. Again, this takes a little while but speeds things up a lot. UPPERS: Takes no effort and doesn't miss anything out; DOWNERS: It can quite often make mistakes; linking zones to points not in visual sight of them. I prefer to initially use method 2, then tidy up with method 1 if I notice any aliens stuck in corners or walking into walls. You must also link any upper parts of zones (eg gantries) with control points, and this must be done manually because of the error-prone nature of the process. Select the 'link upper zone to control point' icon (like the other one but with a double-triangle) and associate as before. It is perfectly OK to link a lower zone to an upper control point or an upper zone to a lower control point. See diagram for an explanation of why you might want to do this: | | Zone A -> | *1 | | | *-----------------*------*-------------------* | # # | | Zone B -> # # | | # # | *-----------------*------*-------------------* | # # | | Zone C -> # +2 # | | # # | *-----------------*------*-------------------* | | Zone D -> | | | | In the diagram point 2 (+) is a blue (upper zone control point), and point 1 (*) is a pink, lower zone control point. Zones B and C comprise a gantry above a large room, whilst zones A and D are corridors leading out onto that gantry. As you can see, given the arrangement above, the upper part of zone C and the lower part of zone D should BOTH be linked to point 2, and the lower part of zone A and the upper part of zone B should both be connected to point 1. @ENDNODE @NODE doc18 HOW TO: Add Objects To Levels: ====================== NB: This document ONLY covers instructions for placing or changing OBJECTS. See the file 'HOW2-Add_Aliens_to_levels' for details on placing aliens. To add an object, click on the small smiley face in the bottom left corner of the icon strip. You will be presented with an extra set of options representing the object 'clipboard' from which you can paste multiple copies of a single object into the level. Click on the 'Object Type' line of the options until it reads 'Object'. Adding objects to levels is quite simple, but there are a few things to bear in mind: 1. Any object can act as a 'key' for lifts and doors. To avoid difficulties, try to think of keys as things that 'hold doors shut' and 'hold lifts still' until they are removed from the map by collecting or destroying them, or until they are activated (e.g. a switch). The doors and lifts held by an object are represented by two lists of letters, A-P. Click on each letter to toggle it from dark to highlighted. Highlighted letters represent doors or lifts which will be held by that object. Any number of doors and lifts can be held by a single object, and similarly any number of objects can hold any one door or lift. The player must remove or activate them ALL before the door/lift will operate. 2. Any object can trigger a text message when it is activated, collected or destroyed. This is represented by the 'Text:' number. Click on this number and type the number of the text string you wish it to trigger (See 'HOW2-Define-In-Game-Text' for details). 3. Clicking on the 'Type' line with the left and right buttons of the mouse scrolls forward and backwards through the 30 possible objects you can define in the game linker. Objects MUST be defined in the game linker before you can use them in levels. 4. The 'START FRAME' of an object is a very, very useful function indeed. If you read the document 'HOW2-Define_New_Objects' you will know that it is possible to define loops of animation within the animation data of each object. Using that, along with the START FRAME, allows a single object to have many different graphical appearances in the game without needing any more than ONE object defined in the game linker! For example, the keys in AB3DII were defined as a single object with 13 frames of animation. Each frame of animation was edited to display a DIFFERENT colour/number of key (e.g. red or green or blue or yellow etc.) and also to point at ITSELF as the 'next frame' to be used. There are therefore 13 independent animations within the animation definition for 'key'. The 'START FRAME' value was set before pasting a key into the level. This value represents which frame of animation the object will first be drawn using. Since in this case all frames pointed to themselves as 'NEXT' frames, this also meant that the object would remain in that frame throughout its life! In effect there were 13 different LOOKING keys in the game, but only one 'KEY' object was ever defined! 5. In the game, the computer keeps track of all objects and aliens which you can see or are near to, and only moves and animates those. So that aliens can chase you, there is also a short 'timeout' so that an object or alien continues to be active for a few seconds after you move out of range. The 'PERMANENT CALCULATION' toggle disables this feature for the object you paste, and forces the computer to animate and control it constantly. NB: The computer will never ignore the 'holding shut' of doors, no matter how far away objects become, so don't worry about doors springing open as soon as you move out of range of the key; it won't happen! 6. Because of the availability of gantries and the like, it is important to specify whether the object is to be placed in the upper or lower part of a zone. The 'Start in Up/Lo rooms:' toggle allows you to specify where to place the object. 7. Finally, to place an object somewhere, just click in a zone with the LEFT mouse button. If you specified in the gamelinker that the object should be locked to the nearest wall, the object will appear, stuck to the wall in the zone nearest where you clicked. OTHER TOOLS: ------------ If, when you have the 'place object' icon selected, you move the cursor over an existing object and press 'g', you will grab the settings of that object into the clipboard. You can then modify them if necessary and paste them back into the same, or indeed any other object, by moving the cursor over it and pressing 'p'. The icon immediately to the right of 'place object' is 'move object'. If you wish to move an object, select this icon then click on the object to move with the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, then on the position you wish it to move to with the LEFT mouse button. The icon to the right of the 'move object' icon is 'delete object'. Clicking in the edit area with this icon selected will delete the nearest object to your cursor. @ENDNODE @NODE doc17 HOW TO: Add Aliens To Levels: ===================== Before reading this, make sure you understand the process of placing objects as laid out in 'HOW2-Place_Objects_In_Levels'. Adding aliens rather than objects is very similar. Just select the smiley face as usual and click on the 'Object Type' line until it shows 'Alien'. You can select what type of alien to paste in the same way as selecting which object to paste, and you can specify doors and lifts to be held until the alien is killed in the usual way also. Instead of 'start frame' which is not applicable to aliens, you have a 'team' option. A value of '-1' represents 'no team', i.e. the alien works alone. Entering a different value allows you to place several aliens on the same 'team'. Team members share information about your whereabouts; the team member who saw you most recently will tell all the other team members (activating them if they are out of range of you) where it saw you. You can set up lots of nice things like ambushes in this way (See HOW2-Create_Challenging_Levels for tricks and tips on using things like teamwork to cause the player grief). Also, by clicking in the edit area with the RIGHT mouse button, you can select the control point which the alien will head towards as soon as the game starts. In this way you can set up initial alien movements to your satisfaction (e.g. making a squad of aliens run towards where the player starts, killing him unless he hides before they get there). @ENDNODE @NODE doc16 HOW TO: Change Level Lighting: ====================== One of the most important aspects of AB3D as far as atmosphere is concerned is how the levels are lit. In AB3D, the walls and floors are smoothly shaded between brightness's defined at their corners. Each zone contains four 'layers' of brightnesses; a lower floor layer, a lower ceiling layer, an upper floor layer and an upper ceiling layer. Brightnesses are defined at the corners of zones, i.e. at the points which you selected to create the zone in the first place. NB: In the diagram below, where the two zones share two points, remember that you must define brightnesses for the two shared points in BOTH zones individually. This may sound odd and long-winded, but it allows you to have sharp edged bright and dark areas. SHARED POINTS | V *--------------*--------------* | # | | # | | # | | # | | # | | # | | # | | # | *--------------*--------------* The procedure for defining a layer of brightnesses is as follows: 1. Select the appropriate icon. They are arranged in a line of four in the middle row, fourth from the left end. Listed left to right, they are: UPPER ROOF BRIGHTNESS UPPER FLOOR BRIGHTNESS LOWER ROOF BRIGHTNESS LOWER FLOOR BRIGHTNESS 2. Notice that as you click, three sliding bars appear, labelled BRIGHT, ANIM and DIST. These values are clipboard values which will be pasted onto points. BRIGHT: The default brightness value, ranging from -20 to +20. NEGATIVE numbers represent the same on-screen brightness as positive numbers, BUT they contribute nothing to the illumination of aliens, vector objects (e.g. the player's gun) and so on. Also, remember that numbers close to 0 are BRIGHT, whereas numbers towards -20 or +20 are DIM. The reason for the positive/negative values is simple: the light-sourceing of objects doesn't work well without it! For example, a brightly lit room with glowing panels on the ceiling means that the light should be coming from above, and so aliens and guns should similarly be lit from above. In this case, the floor brightnesses should be set to -1, and the roof brightnesses to +1, so the room appears uniformly lit BUT aliens are lightsourced from above. ANIM: There are several pre-defined lighting animations available: 0 = no animation; 1-5 = 5 out of phase steady pulsing anims; 6-7 = Flickering effects; 8-15 = Undefined at this time; DIST: This is used to describe how far towards the animation the brightness of the point is 'pulled' from its default brightness. 0 means it doesn't animate at all, 15 means it animates completely, independent of the brightness it is given. Set these values as desired. 3. Select a zone in which you want to change some brightnesses with the RIGHT mouse button, and click on the point(s) you wish to set to the new values with the LEFT mouse button. If you wish to grab brightness settings from a point, move the cursor near it and press 'g'. OTHER TOOLS: ------------ There are several pre-defined settings which can be pasted into entire zones with one keypress. Simply select the zone with the right mouse button and press one of the following keys: 1 Zone bright, lit from roof; 2 Zone bright, lit from floor; 3 Bright floor, dark roof; 4 Bright roof, dark floor; 5 Zone dark, lit from roof (i.e. what little light there is is coming from above); 6 Zone dark, lit from floor (i.e. what little light there is is coming from below); 7 Zone roof glowing (each roof point glowing in one of the five pulsing anims); 8 Zone floor glowing; 9 Zone Glowing in sync (i.e. corresponding floor and ceiling points are glowing with the same animation); 0 Zone Glowing out of sync (all floor and ceiling points pulse randomly and independently). @ENDNODE @NODE doc15 HOW TO: Add Teleporters to Levels: ========================== Teleporters are a very useful feature of the game. You can make them obvious, with trademark glowing floors and ceilings or particular graphics, or invisible, so players wandering unwarily down a corridor will find themselves chucked into the middle of a bloodbath! Teleporters are also very easy to implement. Just bear a few things in mind: 1. Teleporters move the player to a different part of the level, but retain his height relative to the ground; ie if he jumps into the teleporter he will appear at the same height above his landing spot as he was above the teleporter, even if the teleporter is higher or lower than the arrival spot. Because of this, you must ensure that a teleporter has NO HIGHER A ROOF relative to the floor than the arrival point, otherwise it might be possible for the player to materialize in the middle of the roof! 2. Teleporters don't teleport bullets, but they DO teleport aliens, so be careful if you don't want that to happen. On the other hand, if you DO want it to happen, you can place a control point in the teleport, and one at the arrival point, and link them in ONE direction only. Aliens will then happily wander into teleports if they know they can get to you by doing so, but won't attempt the return journey. 3. Teleporters won't teleport something into the space occupied by another object. This is handy in some respects, because you can lay traps where if the player collects a gun or medipac or similar object, aliens can teleport to the location. In other respects it isn't so useful because if an alien or an object is too near the arrival point, the teleport won't activate when the player walks into it. Try to stop aliens from wandering around arrival points as it can be very frustrating for the player when the teleport he needs to proceed further doesn't work! DEFINING A TELEPORT: -------------------- In the level editor, with your level loaded, click on the TELEPORT icon. This looks like a curving red arrow leaving a point and touching down elsewhere, and is located midway along the bottom row. Select the zone you wish to make a teleport with the RIGHT mouse button. Click on the arrival point with the LEFT mouse button. If you click with the left mouse button OUTSIDE the map area, the teleport will be cancelled or deleted. @ENDNODE @NODE doc14 HOW TO: Define Player Guns: =================== The player is likely to feel a little defenseless without guns to shoot, and indeed you MUST have the first weapon defined before you can play the game (the default game link file contains one pre-defined weapon, the shotgun). Select GUNS -> DEFINE GUN TYPES; You will be shown a list of 10 guns, along with various items of information: Click to type a new name for the gun. Click, and then select a bullet from the list shown. This is the type of bullet the gun will fire. Bullets Fired/Shot Click and type a number from 1 upwards. Only used by instant effect bullets, so shotguns can be double-barrelled and fire two bullets (either of which has an independant chance of hitting the target). Delay between shots A value in 50ths of a second representing the delay between the gun firing successive times. Thus a machine gun might have a value of 5, a rocket launcher a value of 50 or 100. Of course, you could always have a rapid-fire rocket launcher.... Gun SFX Click and select a sound effect for the gun to trigger when you shoot. On Screen Object Click and select an object whose COLLECTED/ACTIVATED/DESTROYED frames are set up to work as the gun. See 'HOW2-Define_Objects' for instructions. @ENDNODE @NODE doc13 HOW TO: Add Doors and Lifts To Levels: ============================== No level would be complete without some doors (locked or otherwise) and lifts (stuck or otherwise) for the player to negotiate. DEFINING A DOOR: ---------------- Select the 'Define door' icon. This is fifth from the left on the bottom row, and depicts a red door with an arrow pointing upwards beneath it to show it opening. You will be presented with a bewildering array of options, including: DOOR NUM: X You are currently editing door X, which is a letter from A to P (16 doors). Pressing '<' and '>' with the cursor in the edit area scrolls through these values. NB: Holding down RSHIFT when pressing '<' or '>' not only moves to the previous or next door, but also copies all the settings from the current door to it. This is useful when most of the doors in your level are of the same type. Stays Open For (50=1 sec) This value represents the amount of time the door will remain open for after it reaches its full open height. By experimenting with this value you can create combinations of doors and switches which require the player to run across the map before the door closes again! Click on the value to change it. Opening Speed Opening and closing speeds can be more or less anything you like, but for example, an opening speed of 16 is fast, whilst an opening speed of 1 is very, very slow (useful for very big, heavy doors) Click on the value to change it. Closing Speed Same as above, but in the opposite direction. Opening SFX: This is the sound effect triggered by the door being opened. Click and type the number of a sound effect (0=no sound) which you have loaded into the game linker. Closing SFX: Same as above but triggered by the door starting to close. Open SFX: Similar to above, but triggered by the door REACHING its fully open state. Closed SFX: Ditto, but triggered by the door reaching its completely closed state. RAISE CONDITIONS: Plr touch+Space The player must come into contact with the door and press the space bar to trigger it into opening. Plr Touch The player only needs to touch the door to trigger it into opening. Bullet Touch NOT IMPLEMENTED IN CURRENT VERSION; DO NOT USE. Alien Touch NOT IMPLEMENTED IN CURRENT VERSION; DO NOT USE. On Timeout As soon as the door becomes unlocked, or finishes closing, it will begin to open again. Never Fairly obvious; the door will never open. Not a lot of use, but included for completeness. LOWER CONDITIONS On Timeout Once the timer has expired (see above) the door will begin to close once more. Never Once open the door will never begin to close again. PLACING A DOOR ON THE MAP: -------------------------- 1. Click on the 'define door' icon as above; 2. Select the zone which you want to act as the door (i.e. its ceiling will rise and fall) with the RIGHT mouse button; 3. Press 'r'; the letter of the door will appear roughly in the middle of the zone. 4. This bit requires a bit of thought. Remember that the walls of zones face INWARDS, not outwards, so you will now have to specify which walls in the surrounding zones you want to rise and fall with the ceiling of the door zone: 1 ----------------*--------*----------------- # # # # # # # # ZONE X # DA # ZONE Y # # # # # # # # ----------------*--------*----------------- 2 In this case, where a corridor is interrupted by a door, zones X and Y each have ONE wall which must appear to rise and fall with the ceiling marked 'DA'. To select these walls, click in, for example, zone X with the RIGHT mouse button. Then click with the LEFT mouse button on the point at the LEFT END of the wall you wish to change. NB: The 'LEFT END' refers to the end of the wall which would be on the left when you looked at it in the game from within zone X; i.e. point 1 in the diagram. Notice that the wall selected becomes blue. You can deselect a wall just by clicking on it again. Repeat this process for all other zones bordering the door zone, (e.g. zone Y and point 2). 5. You have done it! The door will now rise and fall between the defined floor height and the defined roof height of the zone in which it was placed. You can now place objects which hold the door shut until collected, or put in aliens which hold it shut until killed, or anything! NB: The list of settings for the door in the bottom right of the screen is NOT a clipboard; these are the ACTUAL settings for the door. You can change the settings at any time before or after placing the door, and the changes will take effect automatically. DELETING A DOOR: ---------------- Sometimes it may be necessary to delete a door from the map. The ONLY safe way to do this, boys and girls, is to follow this procedure: 1. Click on the 'DEFINE DOOR' icon, and use < and > to reach the door you want to delete; 2. Use the technique described above to toggle OFF all the blue walls in zones around the door; 3. Select the door zone itself with the RIGHT mouse button and press 'r'. The door letter should vanish. NB: It is NOT possible to delete a zone which is either a door, or contains a wall bordering a door. I made this so because every time I deleted a zone containing or bordering a door whilst programming AB3D, the level corrupted irretrievably. I never did find out why, so I put in a safety feature which prevents zones being deleted in such a situation. You MUST delete the door before deleting neighbouring zones or the door zone itself. DEFINING A LIFT: ---------------- This is very, very similar to the above process, with the following changes: LOWER CONDITIONS: Plr touch+Space The player must come into contact with the lift and press the space bar to trigger it into coming down. Plr Touch The player only needs to touch the lift to trigger it into descending. On Timeout As soon as the lift becomes unlocked, or finishes rising, it will begin to lower again. Never The lift, once raised, will never descend. There is an additional setting, defining where the lift begins (at the top or the bottom of its movement) which can be set by pressing 't' or 'b' with the cursor in the edit area. Once a lift zone has been defined, in the same way as above, there is one extra piece of information you must give: the maximum height to which the lift rises. Define this by selecting the lift zone with the right mouse button. @ENDNODE @NODE doc12 HOW TO: Change Floor and Ceiling Heights: ================================= Since levels are a little dull without things like stairs, cliffs, low tunnels etc., you will no doubt want to alter the default floor and ceiling heights of your level. Here is how you do it: 1. Overview ----------- The floor and ceiling height changing routines work on a 'clipboard' principle. The height of a floor or ceiling is read into the clipboard by clicking with the RIGHT mouse button on a zone. The height in the clipboard can then be changed and pasted back into the zone, or as many zones as you wish, by clicking within them with the LEFT mouse button. This allows you to speedily change the floor or ceiling heights of many zones. There are four heights which can be changed in each zone. These are: Upper Roof Height Upper Floor Height Lower Roof Height Lower Floor Height The icons to click on to edit each of the above are arranged on the top row of the icon bar in the level editor, starting on the fourth icon from the left. Remember, the icon bar can be scrolled left and right using '(' and ')' on the keypad. Normally, only the Lower Roof and Lower Floor heights are defined. The other two are initialised to 5000, meaning 'DO NOT USE'. The Upper Floor and Roof heights are used in the definition of gantries or two-storey rooms (see below). NB: VERY-VERY-VERY IMPORTANT! In AB3DII, heights are measured DOWNWARDS! This means that a height of -16 is HIGHER UP than a height of 0, which is HIGHER UP than a height of 16. NB: VERY IMPORTANT: Floor and ceiling heights are measured as absolute values. The floor is not measured by its distance from the ceiling, and neither is the ceiling measured by its distance from the floor. If the floor height in a room is 128, and the ceiling height is 64, then the height of the room is 128-64=64. Rooms default to being 128 high, with the floor at 0 and the roof at -128. 2. General Usage ---------------- Click on the icon corresponding to the value you wish to change. If you wish to grab the corresponding height of a zone, click in that zone with the RIGHT mouse button. Use the + and - keys to alter the height in the clipboard. Holding RSHIFT down allows you to change them in increments of 8 rather than increments of 1. Note that due to a bug, either in AMOS or the keyboard hardware itself, you cannot hold down RSHIFT and + on the keypad to make the key auto-repeat (e.g. if you want to change a height by a great deal). If you wish to autorepeat, press RSHIFT and the + key on the main keyboard. When the desired height has been achieved, click with the LEFT mouse button in any zones whose height you wish to set to the new value. Heights can be positive or negative, but REMEMBER that heights are measured DOWNWARDS! 3. Creating... Stairs --------------------- Usually, stairs go down in steps of 16. There's no reason you can't make them steeper or shallower than this, but 16 is a good value. 4. Creating... Gantries ----------------------- This is a feature unique to AB3D on the Amiga. It is possible to define overhead walkways or corridors for the player to use: UPPER roof height -> ---------- ------- <- Roof height of neighbouring zone . . . . UPPER floor height -> __________. | SOLID | WALKWAY | Roof Height -> __________| . . . . Floor Height -> ---------- ------- <- Floor height of neighbouring zone This is a simple procedure for CREATING A GANTRY: Define the area in which the gantry is to be created. REMEMBER: Gantries can only be built from ENTIRE ZONES. You CANNOT HAVE a big room made of a single zone, with a gantry across it. You must have something like this: *--------*----*-------------------* | # # | | # # | | A # B # C | | # # | | # # | *--------*----*-------------------* If you want to be able to see both under and over the gantry in zone B, ensure the floor and ceiling heights of zones A and C are far enough apart (about 256 apart is adequate). Now, select 'DEFINE ROOF HEIGHT'. Click with the RIGHT mouse button on zone A, to grab the height. Now select 'DEFINE UPPER ROOF HEIGHT'. Click ONLY in zone B with the LEFT mouse button. The Roof height from zone A will be copied into the Upper roof height of zone B. Repeat the above, but with the Floor Height of zone A and the Floor height (not the UPPER floor height) of Zone B. You have now defined the upper ceiling and lower floor heights of B. It remains to define the in-between values to describe the walkway. You should still have the Floor height of A in the clipboard. Click on 'DEFINE UPPER FLOOR HEIGHT' and then adjust the value upwards using 'RSHIFT -' until it is about 128 above the floor height. Click with the LEFT mouse button in zone B. This defines the upper surface of the walkway. Select 'DEFINE UPPER ROOF HEIGHT' and click in zone B with the RIGHT mouse button. Select 'DEFINE ROOF HEIGHT' and adjust the value to something slightly further down than the upper floor value you just defined. A difference of 8 is a very thin walkway; greater differences mean greater thicknesses of gantry. There is no reason why the floor height and upper roof height of B should be the same as the floor and roof heights of A and C, so feel free to change any of them to create any setup you wish. For example, the following yields a pair of corridors which cross but are invisible from one another: _________________ | | | | | | | UPPER B | | | | | |_________________| . . . . __________________________________________ . . . . . . A . LOWER B . C . . . . __________________________________________ You can put gantries in as many zones as you wish, even ones next to each other, which allows for all sorts of nice effects, eg: Floating platforms; Two storey rooms with a connecting hole or lift or flight of stairs; Bridges over water; Multi-level staircases (tricky but possible; check out level 11 of the first AB3D). @ENDNODE @NODE doc11 HOW TO: Define Floor Damage Values and Sound Effects: ============================================= Each floor tile you draw can have a damage value and sound effect assigned to it, so the player can actually hear the difference between each tile! To define these values: 1. Load the link file into the game linker in the usual way; 2. Select MISC -> DEFINE FLOOR DAMAGE VALUES; 3. Click on each tile number and type the damage inflicted on the player by that tile. The amount you enter will be taken off the player's health every couple of seconds, so don't make it too big an amount; about 10 for a really damaging floor, or 4 or 5 for a slightly damaging floor. 4. Click on DONE when you've finished; 5. Select MISC -> DEFINE FLOOR FOOTSTEP SOUNDS; 6. Click on the number of each tile and select the sound effect most appropriate to the floor tile; 7. Click on DONE, and save the link file! @ENDNODE @NODE doc10 HOW TO: Define Bullet Types: ==================== No doubt you will want aliens to shoot at you and vice-versa, and before you can make them do this, you have to define some bullet types. Aliens fire selected bullet types, as do the player's guns, and ammo you collect also gives you specified ammounts of each bullet type to shoot. The term 'bullet' is a bit of a misnomer and should really be 'projectile' since it can refer to bullets, mines, grenades, rockets, and, curiously enough, the bits of splatch that aliens spurt when shot. Load your link file into the game linker as usual. Select BULLETS -> DEFINE BULLET DATA To define the NAME of a bullet, click on the existing name with the LEFT mouse button and type in your new name. You can now click on 'EDIT BULLET STATISTICS' and begin creating your projectile. 1. DAMAGE TO TARGET PER BULLET ------------------------------ This refers to the amount of damage the target (ie an alien, an object or you yourself) will take on being struck directly by the projectile. A value of zero disables collision with other objects, useful for stuff like the blood which spurts out of aliens. 2. VISIBLE BULLET OR INSTANT EFFECT ----------------------------------- Bullets can either be visible, like grenades or plasma bolts, or invisible and instantly effective like shotgun blasts or rifle bullets. 3. GRAVITY VALUE ---------------- ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS This indicates the effect gravity has upon the projectile. Grenades should have a value of about 20 or so, with 0 representing gravity having no effect. NOTE that negative values are possible, and will cause the bullet to fall towards the roof! 4. BOUNCE OFF WALLS Y/N ----------------------- ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS Toggles bouncing off walls on/off. NB: Bullets which are subject to gravity will be slowed down by contact with walls, but those unaffected by gravity (Gravity Value = 0) are assumed to be some sort of lazer weapon and are not slowed down. 5. BOUNCE OFF FLOORS/CEILINGS ----------------------------- ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS Toggles bouncing off floors and ceilings. Slowdown rules same as above. 6. BOUNCE NOISE --------------- NOT IMPLEMENTED IN THIS VERSION. This setting has no effect at present, although updates may rectify this absence. 7. BULLET LIFETIME ------------------ ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS Bullets may last forever (a value of -1 denotes this) or may fizzle out or detonate after a certain time. This value is measured in 50ths of a second. Projectiles not defined as bouncing will detonate or fizzle prematurely if they strike a wall, and will detonate in any case if they strike an enemy target (either you or an alien depending upon who fired it). 8. EXPLOSIVE FORCE ------------------ ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS When the bullet runs out of time or hits an alien or wall, it may explode. A value of zero represents no explosion, with about 40-50 representing a reasonably powerful blast. NOTE: The visual effect of an explosion is created by producing several copies of the 'impact' frames of animation around the central blast area, so if you have an explosive bullet, ensure that the impact frames are of a suitable type to look right when the explosion occurs. 9. MOVEMENT SPEED 0-7 --------------------- ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS The speeds of bullets are not measured linearly, but in powers of two. Thus '0' is very, very slow (in practice, not movement at all, particularly if you use it for mines which drop and hit the ground, slowing down and therefore stopping entirely) and 7 is, well, 128 times faster than that! A speed of 7 is extremely fast, with speeds of 5 and 6 more suitable for standard fireballs and so on. 10. IMPACT NOISE ---------------- ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS Click on this and you will be presented with a list of the currently loaded samples. Select one to make the bullet trigger that noise when it hits, or click at the top of the screen to select 'none'. 11. [ DEFINE BULLET ANIMATION ] ------------------------------- ONLY AVAILABLE FOR VISIBLE BULLETS Here you can define the animation of your protectile. Bullets are not 'sided'; ie they look identical from all directions, and hence you only need define one animation sequence for each of them. Clicking here will present you with, initially, a single, incomplete frame description and some extra buttons. These are the values you can change in each frame: GF: Graphic file to read the frame of animation from. Click on the number to pick one of your object-graphic filenames. FN: Frame to draw from within the selected graphic file. Click here with the LEFT mouse button to simply type a number in, or click with the RIGHT mouse button to be shown the ANIMATION FRAME SELECTION SCREEN. See the document 'HOW2-Use_Animation_Frame_Selection_Screen' for details, as this screen is re-used several times in the program. SW & SH: Scaled Width and Scaled Height of graphic on-screen. Values similar to those defined in the animation frame in the graphic file are about right, although you can squash any size and shape of graphic into any size and shape of box. SW and SH have a maximum value of 255. VO: Vertical offset. By varying the vertical offset, you can make bullets weave up and down as they animate. For this to work, you will need several frames of animation. HINT: If you want to create an effect similar to that seen in Breathless, define only one frame of animation for each bullet. BV: Brightness Value. Bullets can be defined to 'glow', lighting up their surroundings. A value of 20 gives a reasonably bright glow. ADD FRAME: Adds a frame to the end of the list, copying all the values from the previous last in the list to the new last in the list. It is therefore a good idea to set up the first frame with the graphic file, scaled width and height and so on, then add more frames and just tweak the values you want to change afterwards. DEL FRAME: Removes the last frame in the list. The bullet, when fired, will cycle through these animation frames until it explodes, or fizzles, or otherwise expires, at which point it will proceed into: 12. [ DEFINE IMPACT ANIMATION ] ------------------------------- Same as above, except the animation will be played through only once, before the bullet disappears. 13. BULLET GRAPHIC TYPE ----------------------- There are three options, which should be selected according to what sort of graphic you have drawn: BITMAP: Simplest option of the three, this just draws the frame onto the screen scaled appropriately. GLARE: Uses the 'GLARE/SHADOW' rules to either brighten or dim the screen behind. See 'HOW2-Draw_And_Convert_Glare_Graphics' for instructions. ADDITIVE TRANSPARENCY: Uses a different routine again to 'add' the graphic in a transparent fashion to the graphics already on-screen, thus giving a 'firey' or 'smokey' or 'blazing plasma death bolt' impression. See HOW2-Draw_And_Convert_Additive_Transparency_Objects for instructions. 14. IMPACT GRAPHIC TYPE ----------------------- Same as above, but for the impact frames. @ENDNODE @NODE doc9 HOW TO: Save a Level to Disk: ===================== There are a number of files that AB3DII uses when loading a level, and so saving levels to disk is not such a simple proceedure. Here is a list of all the files involved in a level: TWOLEV.BIN TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN TWOLEV.MAP TWOLEV.FLYMAP TWOLEV.CLIPS TWOLEV.DAT TWOLEV.OBJ TWOLEV.LINKS And these are the files actually loaded by the game when you play it: TWOLEV.BIN TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN TWOLEV.MAP TWOLEV.FLYMAP TWOLEV.CLIPS The rest are files used by the level editor and AI-Linker. Here's a quick run-down of what is stored in each file: TWOLEV.BIN ---------- Data about the physical shape of the level and objects within it. This file is created by the level editor AUTOMATICALLY when you save a level, and is loaded by the game when you run it. VERY IMPORTANT: THIS FILE *MUST* BE PACKED BEFORE THE GAME CAN BE RUN! SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS! TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN ---------------- Data about the graphical appearance of the level; for example which textures appear on which walls, instructions to draw water and so on are. This file is created by the level editor AUTOMATICALLY when you save a level, and is loaded by the game when you run it. VERY IMPORTANT: THIS FILE *MUST* BE PACKED BEFORE THE GAME CAN BE RUN! SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS! TWOLEV.MAP ---------- This file tells walking aliens how to get around the level you have designed. They use the info in this file to trace the sound of your gunfire, follow you around corners and all the rest. This file is generated by the LINKUP program, which uses the TWOLEV.LINKS file to generate it. This file can be packed to save space, but it is not necessary to test the level. TWOLEV.FLYMAP ------------- Similar to the above, but for flying aliens (which can obviously get across gaps walking aliens can't). This file can be packed to save space, but it is not necessary to test the level. TWOLEV.CLIPS ------------ I can guarantee that this file will cause you more grief than any of the others, because it certainly gave me more hassle than anything else in the entire game! Put simply, the .CLIPS file contains all the information about lines of sight, obstructions and other important stuff. Creating this file takes a LONG time; for a large level it can take several minutes on even an accellerated computer. Before you complain, the equivalent file for Quake takes 4 hours on a network of super-fast power computers, so count your blessings! On the plus side, this file only needs recalculating under certain circumstances. If you run the game, then change the level, you only need to recalculate the clips file if: 1. You have added one or more zones to the level OR 2. You have moved one or more points which lie on the border of zones You DO NOT have to recalculate the clips file unless you have donw one of the above since last playing your level. Changing floor and ceiling heights, adding water or objects, changing the lighting in zones or changing the graphics on walls and floors does NOT require recalculating the clip file before you can play the level. It is therefore a very good idea to plan your level on paper, then put as much of it in as you can in one go, then calculate the clip file, then save the level to disk, then run the game to test it. NB: VERY-VERY-VERY-VERY IMPORTANT: If you recalculate the clip file, you MUST save the level afterwards. Failure to do so will result in a corrupted display in the game, and mean you have to waste time calculating the clip file AGAIN, then saving the level. VERY IMPORTANT: THIS FILE *MUST* BE PACKED BEFORE THE GAME CAN BE RUN! SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS! TWOLEV.DAT ---------- This is the file where the level editor stores its working copy of all the info in the .BIN and .GRAPH.BIN files. DO NOT LOSE THIS FILE! It is not necessary for it to be included with levels for playing the game, eg if you pass your levels on to friends, but without it you cannot edit the level using the editor! TWOLEV.OBJ ---------- This is the file where the level editor stores a working copy of the object positions and stats for the level. DO NOT LOSE THIS FILE EITHER! It is not necessary to include this file with levels you pass on to your friends, but without it you won't be able to edit the level anymore! TWOLEV.LINKS ------------ This is the file containing the raw data about which parts of the level are accessable directly from one another. YOU CAN LOSE THIS FILE IF YOU WANT, but if you do, you'll have to go back and link up all your control points again, which is very dull, so TRY NOT TO! PACKING FILES ============= Three of the five files loaded by the game MUST be packed before they can be used. These are the TWOLEV.BIN, TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN and TWOLEV.CLIPS files. To speed up this process, a number of scripts have been thoughtfully included with your editor pack. These are: PG Pack the .BIN and .GRAPH.BIN files ONLY; PGC Pack the .BIN, .GRAPH.BIN and .CLIP files; PM Pack the .MAP and .FLYMAP files only; USAGE: Type 'pg A' to pack the files in level A, for example. VERY-VERY-VERY IMPORTANT!!!: DO NOT pack files twice. This most often happens accidentally when you load and save a level in the editor without having to recalculate the .CLIPS file, then type 'pgc A' rather than 'pg A'. Since the .CLIPS file has not been changed the packer will attempt to pack it a second time, get a bit confused and the result will be a currupted display in the game. Unfortunately, the only way to recover from this is, you guessed it, recalculate the clips file, save the level, then 'pgc' it! CREATING THE MAP and FLYMAP FILES ================================= If you have put aliens in your level along with control points, you will need to generate the MAP and FLYMAP files. Use the LINKUP program, entering the level letter when prompted. If you have a slow computer and a complicated level, this might be a good time to make some tea, watch some telly or perhaps look for an alternative hobby. Sorry about the time it takes, but there's a lot of raw info to assimilate. ================ SAVING PROCEDURE ================ 1. Have you just added one or more zones, or moved any points? YES: RECALCULATE THE CLIP FILE 2. Save the level by pressing 's', then typing the letter of the level you are saving and pressing RETURN; 3. Quit the level editor with CTRL-C; 4. Did you recalculate the clip file before saving? YES: type 'pgc' then the letter of the level you just saved; NO: type 'pg' then the letter of the level you just saved; 5. Are there any aliens in your level? YES: Have you put any control points in your level? YES: Type 'linkup' and enter the letter of your level at the prompt; N.B. Questo punto è sbagliato: il programma 'linkup' bisogna usarlo SEMPRE, anche se non ci sono alieni nel proprio livello. Ricordatevene! 6. You are now ready to play the game! @ENDNODE @NODE doc8 HOW TO: DEFINE PLAYERS' APPEARANCE: =========================== To define the appearance of PLAYER 1 and PLAYER 2 in the game: 1. Load the link file into the game linker as usual; 2. Select PLAYERS -> DEFINE PLAYER STATS; 3. Click on the player you wish to define and select an 'alien' you want him to look like in the game; 4. Save the link file. @ENDNODE @NODE doc7 HOW TO: Change Wall Floor and Ceiling Graphics: ======================================= THIS FILE INSTRUCTS ON USAGE OF THE LEVEL EDITOR. PLEASE READ THE LEVEL EDITOR KEY-GUIDE FOR BASIC INSTRUCTIONS. One of the more arcane and impenetrable stages of level editing is the defining of graphics for the walls, floors and ceilings of your levels. It is therefore imperative that the proper runes are cast and the traditional ceremonies carried out TO THE LETTER to avoid the incomparable wrath of the editor gods. Ok, so thats a lie. Graphics aren't that hard to include. However, it IS time consuming and rather dull, particularly when you're on level 15 of 16 and you really can't be arsed thinking too carefully about what you're doing, which is why I've included a shortcut or two for the lazier of you. ---------- WALLS GFX: ---------- Walls are the most complicated things to define graphics for. The main ingredients cast into the cauldron for a successful wall graphic are: 1. Which wall file the graphics are to be drawn from; 2. Which part of the file is to be mapped onto the wall; 3. Whether the section of graphic is to be stretched so that an exact number of tiles of that strip fit onto the wall OR 4. Whether the section of graphic is to be squashed so that an exact number of tiles of that trip fit into the wall OR 5. Whether the strip of wall is to be drawn in strict 1x1 ratio regardless of the number of tilings; 6. Assorted eyes, toes, and the occasional spleen from small furry animals (optional). The procedure you should follow is this: 1. Select the 'define wall graphic' icon. This can be found near the right hand end of the icon bar on the middle row, and looks like a letter C with a red vertical bar and grey horizontal bars. 2. Move the cursor into the edit area. The icon bar will vanish and be replaced with a rather dotty and transparent vision of a wall graphic. Press 'v' to get a better look at it. 3. Use the '<' and '>' keys to scroll along the wall graphic, or if you want to select the next or previous graphic in series, press RSHIFT along with '<' or '>'. To change the length of the tile (multiply or divide it by two, in fact), press Q or W. Once the section of graphic visible corresponds to the part of the graphic you want pasted on the wall, move on. 4. Is it important that the wall contains a whole number of tiles of the graphic selected? Such cases arise with doors, where the door graphic must be stretched to fit the exact width of the door, and so on. If you want to STRETCH OUT the wall graphic so that a whole number of tiles covers the wall, pressing '-' toggles the effect on or off. Similarly, '+' toggles SQUASHING the graphic into the wall on/off. 5. Assuming all is OK, select the zone containing the wall to be pasted onto with the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON. Clicking on the LEFTMOST point of the wall as you would see it in the game pastes the graphic onto that wall, eg: *---------------------* <- Clicking on THIS point... | | | | | | | | | | <- Changes THIS wall. | | | | | | | | *---------------------* OTHER TOOLS: ------------ You can grab the graphic settings from a wall by selecting the zone with the right mouse button, holding the mouse pointer near to the left hand end of the wall as above, and pressing 'g'. You can fill all the walls in a zone with your graphic by selecting the zone with the right mouse button and pressing 'f'. THINGS TO REMEMBER: ------------------- It is possible for a single wall to have two different textures on it, depending upon which side you are on. For example, this SIDE ON VIEW of a step: _____________________ | | | Side A ->| | |_________________ | . | | . | | . | | . | | . | |___________________. | | | |<- Side B | |________________| Hence you must define wall graphics from BOTH SIDES in cases like this. To help you in this task, pressing SHIFT and 'D' will redraw the level with all visible walls or steps still containing default graphics drawn in flickering grey, so you can see where you have missed. There is a corresponding DEFINE UPPER WALL GRAPHIC icon, which defines graphics for walls visible in the upper part of a zone (if it exists). It works in exactly the same way. ------------------------ FLOORS and CEILINGS GFX: ------------------------ These are a little easier. Select the 'DEFINE FLOOR GRAPHIC' icon (near the right hand end of the scrollable icon bar; it looks like a letter C with a red bottom). Moving the cursor into the edit area replaces the icon bar with a picture of the graphic you are going to paste. Clicking in a zone with the RIGHT mouse button grabs the graphics already there. Q and W scale up or down the graphic by a factor of 2. This is shown next to the graphic by a number from -5 to +5. -5 is very, very big, and +5 very, very small. '<' and '>' scroll backwards and forwards through the available tiles. NB: When defining ceiling graphics, note that in addition to the 16 graphic textures, there is an additional option of having no roof (ie 'sky'). This cannot be scaled. Clicking with the LEFT mouse button in a zone pastes the selected graphic into it. It is also possible to hold down the mouse button and 'smear' a texture over a number of zones without having to tediously click in each one. Useful for defining stairs and such like. @ENDNODE @NODE doc6 HOW TO: Incorporate sound effects: ========================== Sound effects in AB3DII are a little restricted, because of the 8-channel feature. They will only ever be played at about 8000hz, which is usually referred to as 'C2' in packages like Octamed or Protracker. They must also be a multiple of 200 bytes in length. Finally, they must cover NO MORE THAN HALF of the full scale deflection available. In other words, if you have an ordinary sample, you must HALVE its volume before you can use it in AB3DII. Oh, and the sample must be saved in RAW format. Assuming you have, or have created, some samples in this format, you can incorporate them: 1. Load the link file into the GAMELINKER as usual; 2. Select SAMPLES -> Set SFX Filenames; 3. Click on any of the sample spaces and select your sample using the requester; 4. Click on 'DONE' and save the link file! @ENDNODE @NODE doc5 HOW TO: Create Challenging Levels: ========================== There are an awful lot of features in TKG, and how to use them all together may not seem obvious at first. This document tries to show how to use features to create levels which are challenging for the player by being well-designed, not simply by having lots of aliens and no health packs! 1. Layout of the level ---------------------- Before putting mouse to screen, draw out your level on paper. The worst way to do this is to just draw a room, then a corridor, then another room with a couple of corridors, then another room and so on. Levels drawn like this tend to be dull and samey. Instead, try one or more of these techniques: a) Designing to a purpose. Think of a function the level might serve. It could be a hospital, or a training camp, or a sewage system, or perhaps two areas linked together. Once you have an idea in mind, layout ideas will usually follow. For example, the sewage system would have a lot of tunnels, with steps or lifts leading up into various buildings, perhaps. b) Designing to fit a space Draw an outline on you paper, a 'perimeter wall' which your level must fit into. Make it excitingly chunky and purposeful. I find this helps a lot; having to fit your level into the shape prevents it sprawling like a very old bag of potatoes. c) Designing to suit an alien When you design your aliens you are probably going to have one or more big, tough critters that are going to severely impede the player's progress. Such aliens should have levels custom-designed to suit their abilities. 2. Useful level building blocks ------------------------------- a) Did I just step on something...? A very useful thing to define is an 'invisible trigger'. This can be used to set off messages and trigger doors and lifts, preferably with lots of aliens behind/on them. Simply place the trigger somewhere the player has to go and arrange for it to dispense aliens at the most inconvenient moment possible. b) They're appearing out of thin air! AAARGGHH! This is a good one. When the player picks up a gun, shoots a particular alien or whatever, this can trigger several aliens to teleport from their 'homes' outside the level, into the room the unlucky player is standing in. How to do it? Well, first of all, define several alien 'houses'. An alien 'house' is a pair of zones not connected in any way to the rest of the level: *------* | | | | | | *======* | | | | | | *------* Define one zone as a lift and the other as a teleporter. Put your alien(s) on the lift, making sure that their 'permanent calculation' flag is ON. Make sure the lift starts at the TOP of its movement, and that at that height it is ABOVE the ceiling height of the teleporter (this prevents flying aliens making their way into the teleporter before the lift is triggered). Arrange the alien/gun/health pack/key or whatever so that it triggers the lift into falling to the same height as the teleporter. Place a control point in each zone and link them together. This will ensure the aliens will wander onto the teleporter as soon as they can. c) Smithers, did you just press that big, red button? Even more annoying to the player than tripping invisible triggers is when he voluntarily pulls a large, inviting lever only to discover that it removes the only barrier between him and an alien horde. Don't over-use this one. d) We're going to need BIGGER guns. The 'immensely powerful-looking gun' trick is so ludicrously annoying that it should only ever be used once, if at all. Define a really really impressive looking weapon and place it somewhere obvious but extremely difficult to reach. Only when the player, after hours of trying, finally manages to pick it up, will he discover that it does, in fact, fire ping-pong balls. For real humiliation make it trigger a horde of aliens which the player will confidently attempt to dispatch, failing miserably and probably dying in the process. e) Neighbourhood Watch. You've all got one; a weird neighbour who 'keeps himself to himself' and watches people through his bedroom window. These slightly disconcerting people can now be put to good use in TKG. Stick one up in an alcove, preferably near a door the player will come through. Make him part of a team, the rest of whom are waiting in a room down a side corridor. As soon as the watcher sees the player, it will trigger the others. If the watcher can shoot, too, it will usefully distract the player while the bulk of the squad come running. However, if the player is good (or has played the level before), he will pop out and shoot the watcher before he is seen, then run down and lob a grenade or seven into the room with all his mates in. f) I'm gonna get my big brother on you *sniff*. Fill a maze of corridors with small, useless aliens and one big, dangerous one, making them all part of the same team. If the player is seen, all the little aliens will converge on him, reporting his position to the big guy. @ENDNODE @NODE doc4 HOW TO: Change the Global Palette: ========================== AB3DII runs on a 256 colour screen, which requires a palette. There are three files supplied containing the original AB3DII palette information in three different formats: EXAMPLES/INCLUDES/IFFPAL This is in the form of an IFF palette and can therefore be loaded into most commercial art packages. EXAMPLES/INCLUDES/256PAL This file contains the same information in a format specifically for use by the editors and conversion programs supplied with AB3DII. EXAMPLES/INCLUDES/256PALETTE This file is the one loaded by the game itself when run. Say you are drawing a wall graphic. You can do this in one of two ways: Method ONE: ----------- Using an art package with a 256 colour screen, load in the IFFPAL file as a palette. Draw your graphics WITHOUT making any changes to the palette, and save it to disk. Then convert the picture down to 32 colours (most art packages will allow you to do this automatically) and save it again under a different filename. You will notice that the colours you have used from the 256 palette will be present in the smaller 32 colour palette. You can now convert the graphics as normal (see HOW2-Convert_Wall_Graphics). This method usually gives best results because the colours you use are actually present in the palette the game will use. Method TWO: ----------- Draw your wall on a 32 colour screen using whatever palette you wish, and save it to disk. The conversion program will match each colour you use to the best one available in the global palette stored in 256PAL. This method may not work very well if you try to draw a wall using colours not present or very different from those in the global palette. The palette supplied with AB3DII was used in the game but may not be to everyone's taste. If you want to change the palette, this is the procedure you must follow: RECOMMENDED METHOD: Use your favourite art package to edit the IFFPAL file (make sure you are editing a copy in your own directory, not the original file), then use the PALETTECREATOR program to produce equivalent 256PAL and 256PALETTE files. ALTERNATIVE METHOD: Use the PALETTECREATOR program to edit the palette and save out the 256PAL and 256PALETTE files. It is not possible to save out IFFPAL files from the PALETTECREATOR program. HINT: When designing your own palette, make sure there are plenty of shades of each colour, from the brightest one you ever use down to very dark or black. Remember, the game only has YOUR palette to work from; if you only have a bright red in the palette it's going to look very wrong when it tries to draw something dark red (for example a red object in a dark room). NB: If you convert some graphics and then change the 256PAL file so that some colours you have used are in different places or gone altogether, you MUST reconvert all the graphics you have previously converted. The reason for this is that the old converted graphics won't otherwise know that the file has changed and if, for example, you have changed a red colour to a green, anything previously converted which used the red colour will suddenly start drawing it in green instead! For this reason it is a VERY good idea to decide upon a palette before beginning to draw and stick to it. SPECIAL EFFECTS: ================ It is possible, with only a little effort, to enhance the appearance of your game by modifying the palette file the game itself loads, without changing the IFF palette file or the 256pal file used by the converters. How does this work? Easy. The converters will load your graphics and make decisions about which colours should be used from the global palette not only for the graphics as you drew them, but also at all the darker shades in which they may be visible. Hence if you have a grey wall, the conversion program will find the nearest greys available when the wall is viewed in full brightness down to full darkness. It is very likely that you will have a grey-scale in your palette somewhere (and I suggest that you set aside AT LEAST 32 colours for this purpose, because grey is the most difficult colour to shade smoothly). Assuming that you do, use the palette creator to change the high and low extremes of the grey scale, just slightly. For example, you could make it shade from a dark, slightly red-tinted grey to a very bright, slightly yellow-tinted white, rather than simply dark-white. Save out the modified 256palette file BUT NOT the 256pal file. What happens when you run the game? Well, since the conversion programs are none the wiser about your tampering, they will still match up dark grey to what is now dark, reddish grey. In the game, this means that everything which is grey shades off to a slight red tinge in the distance, which works wonders for the atmosphere of the game. AB3DII used this technique, changing the grey scale to be slightly green at the dark end, which accented the alien surroundings. @ENDNODE @NODE doc3 HOW TO: Change Level Names: =================== Levels are described briefly by their names on the option screen when playing the game, and also saved game positions are referred to by the name of the level you are about to start when you load the position. To change these names: 1. Load the gamelinker program and load the link file in the usual manner; 2. Select LEVELS -> CHANGE LEVEL NAMES; 3. Click on level names and type to change them; 4. Click on 'DONE' when you have finished and save the link file again. @ENDNODE @NODE doc2 HOW TO: Make a Clean Slate: =================== First of all, a bit of explanation about how Alien Breed 3D II works: Before you can design your levels and populate them with vile denizens, you have to specify the parameters within which the game will operate. These parameters include such things as the types of aliens you will meet, the wall and floor graphics, the type of weapons you can pick up and so on. This information is stored in the GAME LINK FILE. To begin with you will need a directory on your hard drive within which you will place all the graphics, sounds and other files your game will use. For simplicity, AB3DII requires the following subdirectories to be created: MYDIR LEVELS INCLUDES GRAPHICS Within the graphics drawer, you must also create two further subdirectories: MYDIR LEVELS INCLUDES GRAPHICS FLOORS TEXTURES Also, an assign to your directory must be made, preferably in your user-startup: Assign AB3: MYDIR This will allow the editor programs to access your files easily and without endless prompting for filenames. Copy all the files from the EXAMPLES/INCLUDES/ directory on your editor disk into MYDIR/INCLUDES These are the palette files used by the game, the title screen graphic and other files used by the game when run. For instructions on changing the palette, refer to the file HOW2-Change-global-palette Once such a directory structure has been made, you can start to build your game. You cannot, however, just dive into the level editor. There are some things you must do first... For the purpose of this tutorial, I recommend you follow this procedure: 1. Make a directory called: MYDIR/WALLGFX 2. Copy the file "ExampleWall" from your editor disk (it can be found in the EXAMPLES/WALLS/ drawer) into the new WALLGFX directory; 3. Make another directory called: MYDIR/WALLINC 4. Consult the document 'HOW2-Convert_Wall_Graphics', placing the resulting files in the WALLINC directory; 5. Copy all the files from the EXAMPLES/FLOORS directory into your FLOORS directory; 6. Consult the document 'HOW2-Convert_Floor_Graphics', placing the resulting file in the INCLUDES directory; 7. Make a directory called: MYDIR/VECTOBJ 8. Copy all the files from the EXAMPLES/VECTOBJ directory into your VECTOBJ directory; 9. Copy the TKG file from your game disk into MYDIR; This process gives you some example graphics to work with when designing your levels. NB: It is likely that at a later stage you may want to design your own graphics instead of using those provided. It is a simple matter to remove the given graphics and replace them, so for now it's probably best if you follow the above procedure so you can get something up and running as quickly as possible. What you have done so far is place some files, eg floor graphics and wall graphics, in conveniently accessable positions. The next stage is to incorporate them into the game. For this purpose, the GAMELINKER program loads and saves a file called 'TEST.LNK' which contains all the information about alien behaviour, weapons, graphics and sounds and where to find the relevant files on disk. Consult the following documents: How2-Incorporate_Converted_Walls How2-Incorporate_Converted_Floors to incorporate the background graphics you have converted. Once that is done, you can begin editing levels. Consult these documents: How2-Start_A_New_Level How2-Run_Your_Game for further instructions. The file: How2-Create_New_Aliens contains information about creating new alien types, or How2-Edit_Alien_Stats tells you how to modify existing aliens. How2-Design_Weapons gives full instructions on creating new weapon types. You are given one weapon to begin with as an example: the shotgun. @ENDNODE @NODE doc1 HOW TO: Start A New Level: ================== THIS FILE INSTRUCTS ON USAGE OF THE LEVEL EDITOR. PLEASE READ THE LEVEL EDITOR KEY-GUIDE FOR BASIC INSTRUCTIONS. First of all, create a directory: MYDIR/LEVELS/LEVEL_A This is where the files for the first level will be created. Now run LEVED. You will be presented with a screen, the upper and largest part of which is blank, the lower part of which contains icons. USING THE ICON BAR: =================== The icon bar may be scrolled left and right using the ( and ) keys on the keypad. Click on an icon with the LMB to select it. A short message will appear next to the icon bar to inform you which icon you have selected. For the present, DONT PRESS ANYTHING! We shall begin by creating a very simple level consisting of two rooms or, as they shall be referred to here, 'zones'. What you may think of as a single room will frequently consist of several zones, for reasons which will become apparent. 1. Select the 'add point' icon. This is the one at the top left of the icon bar represented by +O 2. Move the mouse up to the top area of the screen and click four times in a square pattern, the corners about 2 inches apart. Put them towards the left hand side of the screen, like so: * * * * 3. To create a zone, click on the icon immediately below 'add point', the one like a triangle with dots in the corners. Move up to the edit area and select the points, one at a time, in a CLOCKWISE order, returning to the one you started from. The result should be a flashing grey box, like this: *---------------* | | | | | | | | | END | | | | | | | | | *---------------* 4. Now that you have one zone, you can add more points.... *---------------* * | | | | | | | | | END | | | | | | | | | *---------------* * 5. ....and connect the four rightmost points, again in a CLOCKWISE order: *---------------*------------* | | | | | | | | | | | | | END | | | | | | | | | | | | | | *---------------*------------* 6. Notice that the line common to both zones is dark, rather than bright. This indicates a border between the zones. Bright lines are solid walls which stretch from floor to ceiling. 7. Now you'll have to place the player start position. Select the icon of the little man, and click with the LEFT mouse button in the RIGHTMOST of the two zones. You should see something like this: *---------------*------------* | | | | | | | | | | | | | END | P1 | | | | | | | | | | | | | *---------------*------------* If you want to test the level out in the game, read the document HOW2-Save_Levels_To_Disk for full instructions. When you run the game, notice that the game ends as soon as you step into the 'end' zone. BUILDING LEVEL OUTLINES ======================= Personally, I prefer the following method of level design: 1. Design the level outline, that is, the plan view of the level; 2. Run the game on the level and have a wander around; 3. Assuming all is OK, I put in the floor and ceiling heights; 4. Have another quick run around to make sure all is well; 5. Next, I put in all the wall and floor and ceiling graphics; 6. Check out what it looks like; 7. Put in all the snazzy lighting effects; 8. Have another look; 9. Put in objects like keys, medipacks and guns, together with doors and lifts; 10. play the level through, ensuring that it can be completed by collecting the right keys and so on; 11. Put in the control points for aliens to use; 12. Put in aliens; 13. Final playtest. This is also a very good way for you to learn how to use the features of the game, as it introduces new concepts one step at a time. See these files for information about later stages of level development: HOW2-Change_Floor_and_Ceiling_Heights HOW2-Set_Wall_Floor_and_Ceiling_Graphics HOW2-Change_Level_Lighting HOW2-Add_Doors_And_Lifts HOW2-Add_Objects_To_Levels HOW2-Add_Control_Points HOW2-Add_Aliens_To_Levels This document will now concentrate on the rules of designing level outlines. RULES and REGULATIONS: ---------------------- 1. Zones MUST ALWAYS be defined by selecting points in CLOCKWISE ORDER. 2. Zones can have a MAXIMUM of ten sides. 3. Zones MUST ALWAYS be convex. Several definitions of convexity (pick the one which makes sense to you): a. A convex shape is one where you can walk all the way around the edge and only have to turn in ONE direction. b. If you draw a straight line between any two points in a convex shape, that line will always lie ENTIRELY within the shape, ie it will never cross out of the shape and back in again. 4. No zone must ever be visible on more than ONE side of a hole in the map from any other zone. This is a bit trickier to explain, but I'll do my best: *------------* | | | A | | | *===*----*===* | | | | | B |HOLE| C | | | | | *===*----*===* | | | D | | | *------------* The shape above consists of FOUR zones A,B,C and D; a large one at the top and at the bottom, and two smaller connecting ones on either side, with a hole inbetween. The hole DOES NOT count as a zone, even though it is completely surrounded by zones. You can tell that it is a hole and not a zone in the level editor because the walls around it are BRIGHT WHITE, indicating impassable walls, whereas the borders between zones (shown as double lines '=' above) will be in grey. The above design is NOT ALLOWED, because zone A is visible from zone D on both sides of the hole. There are TWO ways of fixing this situation: a. Delete zones A and D, then add points and zones to get the following: *---*----*---* | # # | | A # D # F | | # # | *===*----*===* | | | | | B |HOLE| C | | | | | *===*----*===* | # # | | G # H # I | | # # | *---*----*---* This is legal, because no zone is visible on either side of the hole from any other zone. b. Add one extra zone, covering the hole: *------------* | | | A | | | *===*====*===* | # # | | B # E # C | | # # | *===*====*===* | | | D | | | *------------* then change the floor height of zone E to be the same as its roof height, or vice versa. Method a. is good because HOLES in the map allow the game to ignore anything on the other side. Thus, if the player stands in zone H, zone D will not be drawn because it is invisible from anywhere in zone H. However, method a. is not always feasable except in very simple or regular patterns of holes. The difficulty involved in making sure this rule is obeyed in complex rooms is prohibitive. That is why method B is often used, despite the fact that it prevents the game eliminating invisible zones; in this case, zone C would be drawn if the player was in zone B, despite the fact that zone E completely obscures it. 5. Try to avoid using sharp, pointy zones when designing the level; for various reasons the game doesn't really like them. If you find yourself about to add an excessively pointed zone, try rethinking the way you have designed the room. 6. Zones MUST NOT contain within them any other zones, or any points be they connected or not. One of the most tempting things people try to do is to create a raised pedastle in the following manner: *-----------------------* | | | | | A | | | | | | *-----------* | | | | | | | | | | | B | | | | | | | | | | | *-----------* | | | | | | | | | | | *-----------------------* This WILL NOT WORK. If you want such a pedastle you must create it in the following way: *-----------------------* |# #| | # # | | # B # | | # # | | # # | | *-----------* | | | | | | | | | | A | E | C | | | | | | | | | | *-----------* | | # # | | # # | | # D # | | # # | |# #| *-----------------------* @ENDNODE /********************************************/ /********************************************/ /** **/ /** FINE DEI DOCUMENTI ORIGINALI DEL GIOCO **/ /** **/ /********************************************/ /********************************************/ @NODE start "TKG Editor Start Guide 4.1 by Simone Zannotti 1997" .----------------------. --------------------------| @{"THE KILLING GROUNDS" link immagini/TKG_2.IFF/main} |-------------------------- `----------------------' @{fg highlight}E D I T O R S T A R T G U I D E 4.1@{fg text} Questa guida vi spiega come installare sul vostro Hard-Disk l'editor di TKG, guidandovi passo-passo nell'installazione. Potete seguire due diversi tipi di installazione: una @{b}automatica-rapida@{ub} (consigliata) e una @{b}manuale-normale@{ub} (richiede mooolto più tempo), entrambe le quali portano allo stesso traguardo, ovvero alla INSTALLAZIONE COMPLETA dell' editor. Diciamo che l'installazione manuale può servire nel caso che fallisca quella automatica (spero di no!). Alla fine dell'installazione, ecco cosa avrete a disposizione: @{" click-me! " LINK dispo} N.B. La guida non sostituisce tutti i docs originali dell'editor, ma soltanto uno: 'How to make a clean slate'. @{fg highlight}G O !@{fg text} Seleziona il tipo di installazione che intendi seguire: @{" INSTALLAZIONE AUTOMATICA-RAPIDA " LINK installazione_B} @{" INSTALLAZIONE MANUALE-NORMALE " LINK installazione_A} @ENDNODE @NODE installazione_B "TKG Editor Start Guide 4.1 (installazione rapida)" @{fg highlight}INSTALLAZIONE AUTOMATICA-RAPIDA@{fg text} (solo 5 minuti richiesti!) 0) @{b}INNANZITUTTO:@{ub} Se avete già installato l'editor fate una cosa: CANCELLATELO DALL'HARD DISK. Se avete creato l'assign per AB3, CANCELLATE ANCHE QUESTO. 1) @{b}PRIMO:@{ub} Procuratevi questi programmi: - I 4 dischi del gioco, versione '4MB' (due dei quali contengono anche l'editor); - L'archivio 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' (all'interno del quale si trova la guida che state leggendo...); - Il mitico Directory Opus 4; - LHA3 (lo trovate nell'editor di TKG, nella directory C); - LHACONV (lo trovate nell'editor di TKG, nella directory S); - Un editor di testo qualsiasi (ad ex. ED oppure BED oppure EDWORD ecc.); 2) @{b}SECONDO:@{ub} Avviate il programma 'TKG-EDITOR-GO!' presente all'interno della mia guida e seguite tutte le operazioni; 3) @{b}TERZO:@{ub} Utilizzando un editor di testo qualsiasi, modificate il file chiamato 'AB3D2' presente nella directory AB3D2. In pratica dovete semplicemente sostituire il punto interrogativo con il path completo indicante dove si trova nel vostro Hard-Disk la directory AB3D2 (ad esempio DH0:Games/AB3D2/). 4) @{b}QUARTO:@{ub} Ordinate la vostra directory AB3D2, ad ex. così: @{" Show me! " link Immagini/Ordine.IFF/main} 5) @{b}QUINTO:@{ub} OK, ora dovreste avere installato tutti i files che vi occorrono; facciamo una prova: - Resettate il computer SENZA LA STARTUP-SEQUENCE - Appena appare la shell entrate nella vostra directory AB3D2 (a me basta digitare Dh0:Games/AB3D2/) e digitate quindi: @{b}execute ab3d2@{ub} - A QUESTO PUNTO IL GIOCO DEVE PARTIRE NORMALMENTE. SE NON PARTE C'E' QUALCHE COSA CHE NON VA': RICONTROLLATE TUTTI I PASSAGGI E RIPROVATE DI NUOVO. - Appena parte il gioco, iniziate una nuova partita: non starete giocando al gioco vero e proprio ma a un livello-demo, situato nella directory AB3D2/Levels/LEVEL_A/ - SE IL GIOCO PARTE MA NON RIUSCITE A GIOCARE AL LIVELLO DEMO, ALLORA C'E' QUALCHE COSA CHE NON VA': RICONTROLLATE TUTTI I PASSAGGI E RIPROVATE DI NUOVO. - OK, se siete arrivati a questo punto vuole dire che và tutto bene ! 6) @{b}SESTO:@{ub} Bene, molto bene! Avete appena installato l'editor di The Killing Grounds! Clikkate qui per sapere cosa avete a DISPOSIZIONE: @{" click-me! " LINK dispo} @ENDNODE @NODE installazione_A "TKG Editor Start Guide 4.1 (installazione normale)" @{fg highlight}INSTALLAZIONE NORMALE-MANUALE@{fg text} (circa 15 minuti richiesti) 0) @{b}INNANZITUTTO:@{ub} Se avete già installato l'editor fate una cosa: CANCELLATELO DALL'HARD DISK. Se avete creato l'assign per AB3, CANCELLATE ANCHE QUESTO. 1) @{b}PRIMO:@{ub} Procuratevi questi programmi: - I 4 dischi del gioco, versione '4MB' (due dei quali contengono anche l'editor); - L'archivio 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' (all'interno del quale si trova la guida che state leggendo...); - Il mitico Directory Opus 4; - LHA3 (lo trovate nell'editor di TKG, nella directory C); - LHACONV (lo trovate nell'editor di TKG, nella directory S); - Un editor di testo qualsiasi (ad ex. ED oppure BED oppure EDWORD ecc.); 2) @{b}SECONDO:@{ub} Create nel vostro hard disk queste directory: (rispettate assolutamente tutte le ramificazioni!) @{fg highlight}AB3D2 HQN Graphics Floors Textures Includes Libs Music Samples Bitmapobj Vectobj Backpack.prj Gravpower.prj Plasmagun.prj Rocketlauncher.prj WallGFX WALLINC Levels LEVEL_A LEVEL_B LEVEL_C LEVEL_D LEVEL_E LEVEL_F LEVEL_G LEVEL_H LEVEL_I LEVEL_J LEVEL_K LEVEL_L LEVEL_M LEVEL_N LEVEL_O LEVEL_P@{fg text} 3) @{b}TERZO:@{ub} Questi sono i programmi e i files di cui avete bisogno: In @{fg highlight}AB3D2@{fg text} devono esserci: Linkup_1.1 31724 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' 256texture 47820 bytes idem come sopra 256brighten 26912 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'EDITOR (Disk EDITOR) 256floor 12024 bytes idem come sopra 256lit 33860 bytes idem come sopra 256obj 34740 bytes idem come sopra 256wallchunk 31000 bytes idem come sopra animeditor 138308 bytes idem cone sopra compactobj 31616 bytes idem come sopra complight 31140 bytes idem come sopra fibcomp 32588 bytes idem come sopra gamelinker 70796 bytes idem come sopra leved (Level_EDITOR) 140160 bytes idem come sopra objed (Object_EDITOR) 82332 bytes idem come sopra packdir 25728 bytes idem come sopra palettecreator 13384 bytes idem come sopra TKG 182820 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO boot.dat 420 bytes idem come sopra AB3D2 ? bytes Questo file lo create voi! Come? Clikka qui...@{" " LINK ab3d2} In @{fg highlight}HQN@{fg text} devono esserci: ashnarg.256pal 649 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO ashnarg.ptr 4321 bytes idem come sopra ashnarg.wad 51560 bytes idem come sopra GUARD.256pal 465 bytes idem come sopra GUARD.ptr 3239 bytes idem come sopra GUARD.wad 25951 bytes idem come sopra insect.256pal 716 bytes idem come sopra insect.ptr 4292 bytes idem come sopra insect.wad 37284 bytes idem come sopra priest.256pal 392 bytes idem come sopra priest.ptr 1715 bytes idem come sopra priest.wad 21249 bytes idem come sopra triclaw.256pal 729 bytes idem come sopra triclaw.ptr 1380 bytes idem come sopra triclaw.wad 3958 bytes idem come sopra In @{fg highlight}Graphics@{fg text} devono esserci: EditorButtons 22166 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'EDITOR (Disk SFX) In @{fg highlight}Floors@{fg text} devono esserci: Floor.1 5766 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' Floor.2 2784 bytes idem come sopra Floor.3 10360 bytes idem come sopra ... ... ... Floor.16 3824 bytes idem come sopra In @{fg highlight}Textures@{fg text} devono esserci: Glare.17 3330 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'EDITOR (Disk SFX) Texture.1 3722 bytes idem come sopra Texture.2 3682 bytes idem come sopra Texture.3 2752 bytes idem come sopra ... ... ... Texture.32 2864 bytes idem come sopra N.B. E' normale che manchi il file 'Texture.17' (Viene sostituito dal file 'Glare.17'). In @{fg highlight}Includes@{fg text} devono esserci: 256pal 1536 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'EDITOR (Disk SFX) 256palette 16928 bytes idem come sopra BRILPAL 1214 bytes idem come sopra findsame.inc 120 bytes idem come sopra shadepal.aminc 544 bytes idem come sopra newlinkup.aminc 300 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' betpts 1412 bytes idem come sopra Test.lnk 86268 bytes idem come sopra newtexturemaps 76311 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO newtexturemaps.pal 5732 bytes idem come sopra rawbackpacked 77383 bytes idem come sopra titlescrnraw1 51890 bytes idem come sopra floortile 38781 bytes idem come sopra TEXT_FILE 6071 bytes idem come sopra N.B. Non appena fate partire il Level_EDITOR, in questa directory viene creato un file chiamato 'editorblocks.pal'. In @{fg highlight}LEVEL_A@{fg text} devono esserci: twolev.bin Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' twolev.clips idem come sopra twolev.dat idem come sopra twolev.flymap idem come sopra twolev.graph.bin idem come sopra twolev.links idem come sopra twolev.map idem come sopra twolev.obj idem come sopra N.B. Questo è un livello demo creato da me per mostrare cosa sia possibile fare con un poco di pazienza e di fantasia... In @{fg highlight}Libs@{fg text} devono esserci: lowlevel.library 6920 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO amos.library 46948 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'EDITOR (Disk EDITOR) In @{fg highlight}Music@{fg text} devono esserci: packedtest 9301 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO In @{fg highlight}Samples@{fg text} devono esserci: Tutti i samples contenuti nel disco 'SFX' del GIOCO (per un totale di 169781 bytes, 51 files). In @{fg highlight}Bitmapobj@{fg text} devono esserci: Coke 9146 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' Coke.256pal 2048 bytes idem come sopra Coke.dat 13205 bytes idem come sopra Coke.ptr 352 bytes idem come sopra Coke.wad 9178 bytes idem come sopra TorciaV2 7084 bytes idem come sopra TorciaV2.256pal 2048 bytes idem come sopra TorciaV2.dat 11605 bytes idem come sopra TorciaV2.ptr 400 bytes idem come sopra Torcia.wad 2772 bytes idem come sopra Alien2 26780 bytes idem come sopra Alien2.dat 77829 bytes idem come sopra Alien2.256pal 653 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO Alien2.ptr 2585 bytes idem come sopra Alien2.wad 11072 bytes idem come sopra Pickups 13848 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' Pickups.dat 20485 bytes idem come sopra Pickups.256pal 1004 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO Pickups.ptr 806 bytes idem come sopra Pickups.wad 4422 bytes idem come sopra BIGBULLET.256pal 2793 bytes idem come sopra BIGBULLET.ptr 342 bytes idem come sopra BIGBULLET.wad 2877 bytes idem come sopra EXPLOSION.256pal ecc.ecc. ecc.ecc. EXPLOSION.ptr EXPLOSION.wad GLARE.256pal GLARE.ptr GLARE.wad KEYS.256pal KEYS.ptr KEYS.wad LAMPS.256pal LAMPS.ptr LAMPS.wad ROCKETS.256pal ROCKETS.ptr ROCKETS.wad SPLUTCH.256pal SPLUTCH.ptr SPLUTCH.wad In @{fg highlight}Vectobj@{fg text} devono esserci: blaster 5165 bytes Questo file lo trovate nel GIOCO charger 106 bytes idem come sopra crab 6215 bytes idem come sopra generator 1610 bytes idem come sopra glarebox ecc.ecc. ecc.ecc. grenadelauncher jetpack laser Mantis passkey plasmagun plink rifle rocketlauncher scenery shotgun snake switch ventfan wasp In @{fg highlight}Backpack.prj@{fg text} devono esserci: backpack.obj 536 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' controlbit.obj 416 bytes idem come sopra project 364 bytes idem come sopra shoulderbit.obj 312 bytes idem come sopra In @{fg highlight}Gravpower.prj@{fg text} devono esserci: backpack.obj 536 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' controlbit.obj 416 bytes idem come sopra gravpower.obj 230 bytes idem come sopra powerinterface.obj 218 bytes idem come sopra project 1392 bytes idem come sopra shouldebit.obj 312 bytes idem come sopra In @{fg highlight}Plasmagun.prj@{fg text} devono esserci: back.obj 476 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' barrel1.obj 260 bytes idem come sopra barrel2l.obj 218 bytes idem come sopra barrel2r.obj 218 bytes idem come sopra barrel3l.obj 158 bytes idem come sopra barrel3r.obj 158 bytes idem come sopra barrel4l.obj 158 bytes idem come sopra barrel4r.obj 158 bytes idem come sopra handle1.obj 476 bytes idem come sopra handle2.obj 472 bytes idem come sopra handle3.obj 188 bytes idem come sopra plasmabarrel.obj 448 bytes idem come sopra plasmaclip 248 bytes idem come sopra project 1590 bytes idem come sopra sight.obj 218 bytes idem come sopra stock1l.obj 234 bytes idem come sopra stock1r.obj 234 bytes idem come sopra stock2.obj 182 bytes idem come sopra stock3l.obj 200 bytes idem come sopra stock3r.obj 200 bytes idem come sopra stock4l.obj 158 bytes idem come sopra stock4r.obj 158 bytes idem come sopra In @{fg highlight}Rocketlauncher.prj@{fg text} devono esserci: barrel1.obj 886 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' barrel2.obj 886 bytes idem come sopra barrel3.obj 540 bytes idem come sopra barrel4.obj 436 bytes idem come sopra barrel5lb.obj 176 bytes idem come sopra barrel5lt.obj 176 bytes idem come sopra barrel5r.obj 248 bytes idem come sopra handle.obj 312 bytes idem come sopra project 3074 bytes idem come sopra rest.obj 590 bytes idem come sopra sight1.obj 572 bytes idem come sopra sight2.obj 320 bytes idem come sopra sight3.obj 572 bytes idem come sopra In @{fg highlight}WallGFX@{fg text} devono esserci: TECHNOTRITILE 20494 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'EDITOR (Disk SFX) In @{fg highlight}WALLINC@{fg text} devono esserci: ALIENREDWALL.256wad 24066 bytes Questo file lo trovate nell'ARCHIVIO 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' BROWNPIPES.256wad 24066 bytes idem come sopra BROWNSPEAKERS.256wad 13058 bytes idem come sopra BROWNSTONESTEP.256wad 4802 bytes idem come sopra brownwithyellowstripes.256wad 24066 bytes idem come sopra CHEVRONDOOR.256wad 13058 bytes idem come sopra gieger.256wad 56834 bytes idem come sopra hullmetal.256wad 24066 bytes idem come sopra redhullmetal.256wad 13058 bytes idem come sopra rocky.256wad 45826 bytes idem come sopra stempunk.256wad 45826 bytes idem come sopra STONEWALL.256wad 10370 bytes idem come sopra TECHNOLIGHTS.256wad 24066 bytes idem come sopra TECHNOTRITILE.256wad 24066 bytes idem come sopra 4) @{b}QUARTO:@{ub} Create questo assign nella vostra User-Startup (spero che sappiate come si fà!): Assign AB3: vostra_directory_AB3D2/ 5) @{b}QUINTO:@{ub} Resettate il computer per rendere operativo l'assign. 6) @{b}SESTO:@{ub} OK, ora dovreste avere installato tutti i files che vi occorrono; facciamo una prova: - Resettate il computer SENZA LA STARTUP-SEQUENCE - Appena appare la shell entrate nella vostra directory AB3D2 (a me basta digitare Dh0:Games/AB3D2/) e digitate quindi: @{b}execute ab3d2@{ub} - A QUESTO PUNTO IL GIOCO DEVE PARTIRE NORMALMENTE. SE NON PARTE C'E' QUALCHE COSA CHE NON VA': RICONTROLLATE TUTTI I PASSAGGI E RIPROVATE DI NUOVO. - Appena parte il gioco, iniziate una nuova partita: non starete giocando al gioco vero e proprio ma a un livello-demo, situato nella directory AB3D2/Levels/LEVEL_A/ - SE IL GIOCO PARTE MA NON RIUSCITE A GIOCARE AL LIVELLO DEMO, ALLORA C'E' QUALCHE COSA CHE NON VA': RICONTROLLATE TUTTI I PASSAGGI E RIPROVATE DI NUOVO. - OK, se siete arrivati a questo punto vuole dire che và tutto bene ! 7) @{b}SETTIMO:@{ub} Ordinate la vostra directory AB3D2, ad ex. così: @{" Show me! " link Immagini/Ordine.IFF/main} 8) @{b}OTTAVO:@{ub} Bene, molto bene! Avete appena installato l'editor di The Killing Grounds! Clikkate qui per sapere cosa avete a DISPOSIZIONE: @{" click-me! " LINK dispo} @ENDNODE @NODE dispo "ECCO COSA AVETE A DISPOSIZIONE" Dopo avere installato l'editor @{b}seguendo la mia guida@{ub}, ecco cosa avrete a disposizione: @{" OGGETTI " LINK dispo_obj} Oggetti definiti @{" NEMICI " LINK dispo_nemo} Nemici definiti @{" TEXTURE " LINK gallery} @ENDNODE @NODE dispo_obj "OGGETTI A DISPOSIZIONE" ECCO GLI OGGETTI CHE AVETE SUBITO A DISPOSIZIONE (CIOE' GLI @{b}OGGETTI GIA' DEFINITI@{ub}): Legenda: TIPO1= Tipo di oggetto definito (B=Bitmap,P=Poligonale,G=Glare) TIPO2= Tipo di oggetto definito (C=Collezionabile,X=Distruttibile,D=Decorativo,A=Attivabile) TIPO= Tipo di file utilizzato (B=BITMAP,P=POLIGONALE) @{fg highlight}NUM. TIPO1,TIPO2,NOME COSA E' FILE UTILIZZATO (TIPO,NUM.,NOME)@{fg text} 1. B C MediPACK...........Lattina di Coca-Cola (energia) B 15: COKE 2. B C Shotgun Shells.....Munizioni per Shotgun B 2: PICKUPS (frame 6 (5+1)) 3. P X Computer...........Computer P 6: PLINK 4. P C Plasma Gun.........Arma: Plasmagun P 7: PLASMAGUN 5. B C Plasma Clip........Munizioni per Plasmagun B 2: PICKUPS (frame 25 (24+1)) 6. B D Torcia.............Torcia accesa B 16: TORCIAV2 7. P C Shotgun............Arma: Shotgun P 5: SHOTGUN 8. P D Generator..........Generator P 1: GENERATOR 9. P C PassKey............Pass (per aprire porte) P 12: PASSKEY (frames 1->13 (0+1->12+1)) 10. B C Grenades...........Munizioni per Grenade launcher B 2: PICKUPS (frame 7 (6+1)) 11. B D Lamp...............Lamp B 8: LAMPS 12. G D Lampglare..........Lampglare B 9: GLARE (frames 1->4 (0+1->3+1)) 13. G D RoofGlare..........Roofglare B 9: GLARE (frames 5->14 (4+1->13+1)) 14. P D glarebox...........Glarebox P 8: GLAREBOX 15. P C Assault Rifle......Arma: Assault rifle P 11: RIFLE 16. P A KnifeSwitch........Interruttore P 2: SWITCH 17. P C Grenade Launcher...Arma: Grenade launcher P 13: GRENADELAUNCHER 18. P C Jetpack............Jetpack P 21: JETPACK 19. B C Rifle Clip.........Munizioni per Assault rifle B 2: PICKUPS (frame 2 (1+1)) 20. P A Charger............Caricatore per Jetpack P 22: CHARGER 21. G D GunGlares..........Gun glares B 9: GLARE (frame 15->20 (14+1->19+1)) 22. P C Blaster............Arma: Blaster P 4: BLASTER 23. B C Blaster Clip.......Munizioni per Blaster B 2: PICKUPS (frame 3 (2+1)) 24. P C Rocket Launcher....Arma: Rocket launcher P 18: ROCKETLAUNCHER 25. B C Rocket.............Munizioni per Rocket launcher B 2: PICKUPS (frame 5 (4+1)) 26. P D Indicator..........Indicator P 12: PASSKEY (frames 1->13 (0+1->12+1)) 27. B C Mine...............Mine B 2: PICKUPS (frame 26 (25+1)) 28. P C Bounce Lazer.......Arma: Bounce lazer P 20: LASER 29 B C Lazer Clip.........Munizioni per Bounce lazer B 2: PICKUPS (frame 28 (27+1)) @{b}Non preoccupatevi se all'inizio non ci capite niente@{ub}: con il passare del tempo (facendo molta pratica e leggendo bene i docs) riuscirete ad interpretare ogni parte di questa tabella! N.B. L'oggetto numero 1 è una lattina di Coca-Cola: l'ho inserita io al posto della classica 'cassetta del pronto soccorso'! Comunque il FILE della cassetta del pronto soccorso c'è sempre (è il frame 1 (0+1) del file B 2: PICKUPS); dunque potete reinserirla quando volete! INFORMAZIONI TECNICHE: @{" click-me! " LINK coke!} N.B. L'oggetto numero 6 è una torcia accesa (la fiamma si muove!!): l'ho inserita io al posto del ventolone poligonale. Comunque, il FILE del ventolone poligonale c'è sempre (è il file P 9: VENTFAN): dunque potete reinserirlo quando volete! INFORMAZIONI TECNICHE: @{" click-me! " LINK torcia!} N.B. Se questi oggetti non vi vanno bene, potete sempre modificarli o sostituirli completamente! (Leggete bene i docs per sapere COME) @ENDNODE @NODE coke! "INFORMAZIONI TECNICHE SULLA LATTINA" @{b}INFORMAZIONI TECNICHE RIGUARDO LA LATTINA (OGGETTO NUMERO 1):@{ub} la linea di animazione numero 0 rappresenta la lattina immobile poggiata per terra; le linee di animazione 1 -> 14 rappresentano invece la lattina 'fluttuante' in alto e in basso (ideale per dentro l'acqua). NEL LIVELLO DEMO HO INSERITO SIA DELLE LATTINE 'POGGIATE PER TERRA', SIA DELLE LATTINE 'FLUTTUANTI'. @ENDNODE @NODE torcia! "INFORMAZIONI TECNICHE SULLA TORCIA" @{b}INFORMAZIONI TECNICHE RIGUARDO LA TORCIA (OGGETTO NUMERO 6):@{ub} le linee di animazione 0 -> 7 rappresentano la torcia animata posta ad un' altezza di un paio di metri da terra; le linee di animazione 8 -> 15 rappresentano invece la torcia animata posta a circa un metro da terra. NEL LIVELLO DEMO HO INSERITO ENTRAMBE QUESTE TORCIE. @ENDNODE @NODE dispo_nemo "MOSTRI A DISPOSIZIONE" Informazioni non ancora disponibili. @ENDNODE @NODE load "COME TESTARE I PROPRI LIVELLI" Innanzitutto ricordatevi di mettere sempre i vostri livelli nella directory AB3D2/Levels/LEVEL_A/ - Resettate l'Amiga SENZA LA STARTUP-SEQUENCE - Appena appare la shell entrate nella vostra directory AB3D2 (a me basta digitare Dh0:Games/AB3D2/) e digitate quindi: @{b}execute ab3d2@{ub} - OK, partirà il gioco e potrete testare subito il vostro livello. @ENDNODE @NODE ab3d2 "CREAZIONE DEL FILE AB3D2" - Caricate un qualsiasi editor di testo e create un file (chiamatelo @{b}AB3D2@{ub}) contenente le seguenti 5 righe: assign AB3: vostra_directory_AB3D2/ assign tkg1: AB3: assign tkg2: AB3: assign sfx: AB3: tkg @ENDNODE @NODE system "BUY A 68060!" .-----------------------. | @{" REQUISITI HARDWARE " LINK hard} | `-----------------------' .-----------------------. | @{" REQUISITI SOFTWARE " LINK soft} | `-----------------------' @ENDNODE @NODE hard "REQUISITI HARDWARE (W Amiga & M Pc)" Ecco quello che vi serve per poter utilizzare l'editor di Alien Breed 3D 2 The Killing Grounds (Anf!): - Amiga @{b}AGA@{ub} (A1200 o A4000 o CD32modificato) - Hard Disk (ma chi è che non c'e' l'ha??) - Processore @{b}68030@{ub} a 50 MhZ o superiore (040 o 060 rulez!) - 4 MB di @{b}Fast@{ub} Ram (per un totale di MINIMO 6 MB di Ram) - Un buon impianto @{b}stereo@{ub} per potersi gustare l'audio a 8 CANALI STEREO. @ENDNODE @NODE soft "REQUISITI SOFTWARE (M Pc & W Amiga)" Ecco i @{b}programmi@{ub} che vi servono per poter installare e utilizzare l'editor di TKG seguendo questa guida: - I 4 dischi del gioco, versione '4MB' (due dei quali contengono anche l'editor); - L'archivio 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' (all'interno del quale si trova la guida che state leggendo...); - Il mitico Directory Opus 4; - LHA3 (lo trovate nell'editor di TKG, nella directory C); - LHACONV (lo trovate nell'editor di TKG, nella directory S); - Un editor di testo qualsiasi (ad ex. ED oppure BED oppure EDWORD ecc.); N.B. La patch dell'editor NON serve! @ENDNODE @NODE autore "CHI SI E' SBATTUTO PER FARE QUESTA GUIDA?" @{b}CIAO MONDO!@{ub} Questa guida è stata creata da: @{b}Simone Zannotti Via Tiepolo 1 09121 Cagliari@{ub} Se avete bisogno di aiuto mandatemi una E-mail all'indirizzo: simone.z@sarah.eva.it Un ringraziamento al beta-tester di questa versione 4.1: DANIELE PALMAS. Bene, prima che vi dimentichiate di me volevo dirvi 4 cose e basta: 1) Spero che questa guida riesca a farvi avvicinare all'editor di TKG! 2) Se mai un giorno riuscirete a disegnare un nuovo livello COMPLETO di nuovi oggetti, nuove texture (disegnate da voi), mostri poligonali (si può fare!!!) e chissà cos'altro, non esitate a farlo circolare su AMINET: c'e' bisogno di @{b}nuova linfa@{ub} per The Killing Grounds! 3) Perchè qualcuno non programma una nuova versione di 'leved'? Il codice in AMOS lo trovate addirittura su Aminet! 4) Uscirà mai Alien Breed 3D 3? @{" click-me! " LINK ab3d3} Adios. @{i}Simone Zannotti@{ui} @ENDNODE @NODE distr "DISTRIBUZIONE" @{b}PASSATE IN GIRO QUESTA GUIDA !!! PIU' GENTE LA LEGGERA', PIU' LIVELLI AVREMO (SPERO AL PIU' PRESTO) DA GIOCARE !!!@{ub} PASSATELA ALLE RIVISTE, PASSATELA ALLE BBS, PASSATELA AGLI AMICI ! @ENDNODE @NODE edito "LEGGERE ATTENTAMENTE LE AVVERTENZE..." DOPO avere installato l'editor, LEGGETE ATTENTAMENTE QUESTI LINKS: @{" Errore nei DOCS e compressione dei files " LINK editoA} @{" Effetto LSD " LINK editoB} @{" Effetto LSD derivante da cielo in UPPER ROOF " LINK editoG} @{" Se 'leved' si quitta mentre salviamo (1) " LINK editoC} @{" Se 'leved' si quitta mentre salviamo (2) " LINK editoE} @{" Funzione dei tasti di 'leved' " LINK editoD} @{" Se non riusciamo a salvare il file 'Test.lnk' " LINK editoF} @{" Se non riusciamo a caricare il file 'Test.lnk'" LINK editoH} @ENDNODE @NODE editoA "ATTENZIONE!!!"" - Nei docs dell'editor c'e' un fottuto @{b}ERRORE@{ub}!! Precisamente, l'errore si trova alla fine del file '@{"HOW2SaveALevelToDisk" LINK doc9}', al punto 5 della 'SAVING PROCEDURE' (procedura di salvataggio). Al punto 5 infatti ci viene detto che bisogna usare il programma 'linkup' SOLO se abbiamo messo degli alieni nel nostro livello: S B A G L I A T O !! @{b}IL PROGRAMMA 'linkup' BISOGNA USARLO SEMPRE, ANCHE SE NON CI SONO ALIENI NEL NOSTRO LIVELLO!!!@{ub} Questo programma infatti crea 2 files (twolevel.MAP e twolevel.FLYMAP) che sono NECESSARI a far partire il gioco (senza di questi 2 files il gioco non parte, ricordatevene!!!). - Dunque, un livello e' composto da 8 files (escludendo ovviamente grafica, samples, ecc. che vanno messi tutti nelle apposite directory, cioe' Floors, Samples, Textures, Vectobj, ecc.): @{b}TWOLEV.BIN@{ub} file creato dall'editor di livelli (leved) quando salvate un livello @{b}TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN@{ub} idem come sopra @{b}TWOLEV.DAT@{ub} idem come sopra @{b}TWOLEV.OBJ@{ub} idem come sopra @{b}TWOLEV.LINKS@{ub} idem come sopra @{b}TWOLEV.MAP@{ub} file creato dal programmino 'linkup' @{b}TWOLEV.FLYMAP@{ub} file creato dal programmino 'linkup' @{b}TWOLEV.CLIPS@{ub} file creato dall'editor di livelli quando clikkate su un particolare tasto dell'interfaccia (nel tasto ci sono disegnate 2 zone, numerate 1 e 2) - Ricordatevi che @{b}3 DI QUESTI 8 FILES DEVONO ESSERE COMPRESSI =SB=@{ub}, e cioe': TWOLEV.BIN, TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN e TWOLEV.CLIPS. Ricordatevi che se non comprimete questi 3 files, non riuscirete mai a provare i vostri livelli! Per comprimerli vi consiglio di NON seguire il metodo spiegato nei docs, ma di fare così: @{" click-me! " LINK casino} @ENDNODE @NODE editoB "ATTENZIONE!!!" - ATTENZIONE!!! Ogni volta che calcolate il 'CLIP file' ricordatevi subito dopo di SALVARE il livello! Se non fate così, vedrete strane cose apparire sullo schermo! (Tipo LSD...) @ENDNODE @NODE editoC "ATTENZIONE!!!" - ATTENZIONE!!! Ricordatevi, ogni volta che ELIMINATE una zona, che questa và subito RIMPIAZZATA con un altra!!! Cioè: @{b}DOVETE SEMPRE CREARE TANTE ZONE QUANTE NE AVETE ELIMINATO@{ub}. Ad ex. se da 4 zone ne ricavate una sola, allora dovete creare tante zone quante ne avete eliminato, cioè 3! Facciamo un esempio per chiarire questo concetto: Supponiamo che, nell'esempio qui sotto, vogliate unire la Zona1 e la Zona2, in modo da ottenere un unica grande zona. Ecco come dovete procedere: 0_______1___________4_______6 | | | | | END | Zona1 | Zona2 | |_______|___________|_______| 3 2 5 7 1. Eliminate la Zona1; 2. Eliminate la Zona2; 3. Unite in un unica zona i punti 1-4-6-7-5-2. Otterrete questo: 0_______1___________4_______6 | | | | END | Zona1 | |_______|___________ _______| 3 2 5 7 4. Ok, se provate a salvare questo, l'editor di livelli si 'quitta' implacabilmente (cioè si chiude senza neanche avvisarvi) e volete sapere perchè? Io ci ho messo un pò a capirlo, ma ora ho la soluzione: RISPONDETE A QUESTA DOMANDA: QUANTE ZONE C'ERANO PRIMA, IN TUTTO? E QUANTE CE NE SONO ADESSO? Il segreto stà proprio qui: 'leved' si quitta se non trova tutte le zone che c'erano prima!! Dunque L'UNICA SOLUZIONE è quella di CREARE TANTE ZONE QUANTE NE SONO STATE CANCELLATE (nel nostro caso una). Dunque non ci resta che aggiungere 2 o più punti e creare un'altra zona: 0_______1___________4_______6_______8 | | | | | END | Zona1 | Zona2 | |_______|___________ _______|_______| 3 2 5 7 9 Bene, ORA abbiamo tante zone quante ce ne erano inizialmente; DUNQUE possiamo salvare senza problemi il nostro livello. @ENDNODE @NODE editoD "ATTENZIONE!!!" - Ecco la funzione di ALCUNI tasti dell'editor di livelli (leved): L...............CARICA UN LIVELLO (N.B. INSERITE LA LETTERA (ad ex. 'A'), NON IL NUMERO!) S...............SALVA UN LIVELLO ( idem come sopra ) (...............SCROLLA A SX L'INTERFACCIA DELL'EDITOR )...............SCROLLA A DX L'INTERFACCIA DELL'EDITOR #...............ZOOM - ;...............ZOOM + CONTROL+C.......QUIT D...............CANCELLA UNA ZONA SELEZIONATA (Solo se si è in modalità 'cancella zone') E...............SPOSTA LA ZONA DI FINE LIVELLO (Solo se si è in modalità 'SET PLAYER START/END ZONE') N.B. Se per sbaglio premete 'l', potete tornare ad editare calcando semplicemente ENTER. N.B. ATTENTI A NON PREMERE 'S' INAVVERTITAMENTE: NON SI PUO' TORNARE INDIETRO!!! @ENDNODE @NODE editoE "ATTENZIONE!!!" - Ricordatevi di NON SALVARE MAI UN LIVELLO IN CUI CI SIANO DEI PUNTI 'VAGANTI' (cioè che non facciano parte di nessuna zona). Se ci provate, 'leved' si chiuderà senza neanche avvisarvi!! Ad ex. (il punto 10 è 'vagante'): 0_______1___________4_______6_______8 .10 | | | | | END | Zona1 | Zona2 | |_______|___________ _______|_______| 3 2 5 7 9 NON RIUSCIRETE MAI A SALVARE UNA COSA DEL GENERE!! @ENDNODE @NODE editoF "ATTENZIONE!!!" - Se non riuscite a salvare il file 'Test.lnk' provate a togliere dal nome l'estensione .lnk e vedrete che questa volta andrà tutto bene! Cioè, ANZICHE' salvare il file con il nome Test.lnk salvatelo con il nome Test (L'estensione .lnk viene aggiunta dal programma stesso...GRAZIE AMOS!!) N.B. Quando invece dovete CARICARE il file Test.lnk, non c'è bisogno di togliere l'estensione! @ENDNODE @NODE editog "ATTENZIONE!!!" - Ricordatevi che NON E' POSSIBILE INSERIRE DEL CIELO NEL SOFFITTO PIU' ALTO DI UNA ZONA (Upper roof)! Se provate a farlo, vedrete strane cose apparire al posto del cielo (tipo LSD...). Questa cosa la trovo abbastanza strana! (si tratta probabilmente di un bug). @ENDNODE @NODE editoH "ATTENZIONE!!!" - Se non riuscite a caricare il file 'Test.lnk' controllate bene l'estensione: L'ESTENSIONE DEVE PER FORZA ESSERE .lnk (tutto @{b}minuscolo@{ub}) @ENDNODE @NODE casino "IL MIO METODO PER COMPATTARE FACILMENTE I 3 FILES!" @{b}ATTENZIONE! DIRECTORY OPUS 4 NECESSARIO!@{ub} 1) Copiate il file 'LHA3' (lo trovate nell'EDITOR, nella directory C) nella directory C del vostro Hard Disk; 2) Copiate il file 'LHACONV' (lo trovate nell'EDITOR, nella directory S) nella directory C del vostro Hard Disk; 3) Caricate il Directory Opus ed entrate in modalità 'configurazione' (per entrare, premete il tastino in basso con la lettera C); 4) Clikkate su 'BUTTONS' (stiamo infatti per CONFIGURARE UN NUOVO BOTTONE DELL'INTERFACCIA); 5) Clikkate su un tasto dell'interfaccia LIBERO (vuoto, inutilizzato); 6) Bene, adesso DOVETE INSERIRE 12 RIGHE DI COMANDI 'AmigaDOS' (per inserire ciascuna riga, clikkate su 'New entry' e quindi selezionate 'AmigaDOS'). Le righe da inserire sono: Dh0:C/LHA3 a Ram:Bin Ram:twolev.bin cspeed=5 hdrlvl=0 @{b}(Sostituite @{ub}Dh0@{b} con il nome del vostro Hard Disk)@{ub} LHACONV Ram:Bin.lha Ram:twolev.bin Dh0:C/LHA3 a Ram:Clips Ram:twolev.clips cspeed=5 hdrlvl=0 @{b}(Sostituite @{ub}Dh0@{b} con il nome del vostro Hard Disk)@{ub} LHACONV Ram:Clips.lha Ram:twolev.clips Dh0:C/LHA3 a Ram:Graph Ram:twolev.graph.bin cspeed=5 hdrlvl=0 @{b}(Sostituite @{ub}Dh0@{b} con il nome del vostro Hard Disk)@{ub} LHACONV Ram:Graph.lha Ram:twolev.graph.bin Delete Ram:Bin.lha Delete Ram:Bin.lha.cat Delete Ram:Clips.lha Delete Ram:Clips.lha.cat Delete Ram:Graph.lha Delete Ram.Graph.lha.cat Fatto questo, inserite come 'Flags' solamente 'Output window', date un nome al vostro nuovo bottone (ex. TKG-3), salvate tutto ed uscite. Un esempio di cio' che dovete aver fatto lo trovate nell'archivio 'TKG_EDIT.LHA' (è una pictures grabbata dal mio computer). 7) Ok, @{b}ogni volta che vorrete compattare i 3 files COPIATELI IN RAM e CLIKKATE SUL VOSTRO NUOVO BOTTONE:@{ub} automaticamente vi ritroverete con i 3 files compattati in Ram!!! A questo punto non dovrete fare altro che ri-copiarli nella loro directory (che dovrebbe essere AB3D2/Levels/LEVEL_A/). 8) Non abbiamo ancora finito. In alcuni casi avrete bisogno di compattare SOLO 2 dei 3 files, e cioè TWOLEV.BIN e TWOLEV.GRAPH.BIN; per questo è necessario creare un @{b}secondo bottone@{ub} su Directory Opus: 9) Caricate il Directory Opus ed entrate in modalità 'configurazione' (per entrare, premete il tastino in basso con la lettera C); 10) Clikkate su 'BUTTONS' (stiamo infatti per CONFIGURARE UN NUOVO BOTTONE DELL'INTERFACCIA); 11) Clikkate su un tasto dell'interfaccia LIBERO (vuoto, inutilizzato); 12) Bene, adesso DOVETE INSERIRE 8 RIGHE DI COMANDI 'AmigaDOS' (per inserire ciascuna riga, clikkate su 'New entry' e quindi selezionate 'AmigaDOS'). Le righe da inserire sono: Dh0:C/LHA3 a Ram:Bin Ram:twolev.bin cspeed=5 hdrlvl=0 @{b}(Sostituite @{ub}Dh0@{b} con il nome del vostro Hard Disk)@{ub} LHACONV Ram:Bin.lha Ram:twolev.bin Dh0:C/LHA3 a Ram:Graph Ram:twolev.graph.bin cspeed=5 hdrlvl=0 @{b}(Sostituite @{ub}Dh0@{b} con il nome del vostro Hard Disk)@{ub} LHACONV Ram:Graph.lha Ram:twolev.graph.bin Delete Ram:Bin.lha Delete Ram:Bin.lha.cat Delete Ram:Graph.lha Delete Ram.Graph.lha.cat Fatto questo, inserite come 'Flags' solamente 'Output window', date un nome al vostro nuovo bottone (ex. TKG-2), salvate tutto ed uscite. 13) Ok, @{b}ogni volta che vorrete compattare i 2 files COPIATELI IN RAM e CLIKKATE SUL VOSTRO NUOVO BOTTONE:@{ub} automaticamente vi ritroverete con i 2 files compattati in Ram!!! A questo punto non dovrete fare altro che ri-copiarli nella loro directory (che dovrebbe essere AB3D2/Levels/LEVEL_A/). Finish! @ENDNODE @NODE introd "INTRODUZIONE (importante!)" Ok, avete finito di installare l'editor (seguendo la mia guida) e siete pronti per costruire nuovi livelli. Prima però dovete sapere alcune cose: L'editor di TKG non è costituito da un solo programma, ma da un INSIEME di programmi ognuno dei quali ha una sua funzione precisa. In particolare, i programmi più importanti sono due, e cioè: - @{fg highlight}GameLINKER@{fg text} serve ad informare Amiga su DOVE avete messo le texture, i mostri, i suoni, gli oggetti ecc. e su COME li avete definiti; - @{fg highlight}LevED@{fg text} serve invece a costruire un livello e ad inserirci dentro le texture, i mostri, i suoni, gli oggetti ecc. Gli altri programmi presenti hanno la funzione di convertire texture oppure oggetti, disegnare oggetti 3D ecc. e per questo sono secondari (ma non meno importanti!). Per farvi un esempio pratico di come funziona il binomio GameLINKER-LevED, supponiamo di voler inserire nel nostro livello una TORCIA animata (5 frames). Ecco come bisogna procedere: 1. Si disegnano i frames della torcia seguendo le regole descritte nei docs; 2. Si utilizza il programma '256obj' per convertire la torcia nel formato proprietario di TKG; 3. Si utilizza il programma 'CompactOBJ' per compattare questo file; 4. Si utilizza il GameLINKER per avvisare Amiga su DOVE si trova la torcia, (cioè in quale directory), che nome ha, e per DEFINIRE i frames di animazione della torcia (leggete i docs per sapere come fare); 5. Si utilizza infine LevED per inserire la torcia nel livello. Per concludere, ricordatevi che: - Tutti gli oggetti bitmap vanno messi nella directory AB3D2:Bitmapobj/ - Tutti gli oggetti poligonali vanno messi nella directory AB3D2:Vectobj/ - Tutte le texture per i muri (non convertite) vanno messe nella directory AB3D2:WallGFX/ - Tutte le texture per i muri (convertite) vanno messe nella directory AB3D2:WALLINC/ - Tutte le texture per i pavimenti/soffitti vanno messe nella directory AB3D2:Graphics/Floors/ - Tutte le texture per gli oggetti vanno messe nella directory AB3D2:Graphics/Textures/ - Tutti i suoni (convertiti) vanno messi nella directory AB3D2:Samples/ @ENDNODE @NODE passare "COME PASSARE I LIVELLI AD ALTRE PERSONE" Informazioni non ancora disponibili. @ENDNODE