************************ * PR'S BRIEFING EDITOR * ************************ version 0.9 -------- Welcome! -------- Welcome to PR's Briefing Editor! This program allows the user to edit the mission briefings in Descent. With this program, Descent level editors will be able to include their own briefings with Descent, using their own pictures if they like (though it's still very tricky in this version). This Briefing editor is not extremely user friendly. You will have to learn a few technical terms first. They will be mentioned in one of the sections below. -------- Versions -------- Yes, I will include version numbers and all that stuff at the start of the manual. So far, there is only one version. version 0.9 First beta version Not extremely user friendly, but does the job. --------------------- What is a TXB file??? --------------------- Hopefully, you know what a TXB file is. If you don't, here's a quick explanation of what they are. TXB files are files that are actually in the DESCENT.HOG file. You can use a HOG extracter to get these files out (this program comes with a HOG extracter) These TXB files contain text strings. Depending on the name, they contain different information. The file BRIEFING.TXB contains all the briefing text, that is, the text that makes up the mission briefings in Descent. This program lets you change these briefings. ----------------------------- The format, etc. of TXB files ----------------------------- It will take up too much space to write up the format of TXB files. To properly understand them, you need to... (1) Decode them (convert the crap spit out by your editor when viewing them into real text) (2) Understand them. I haven't figured out what every type of file means yet. Even when converted to text, TXB files can include control codes, and other funny codes. Luckily, I have gone through the work of the above steps so you don't really need to know much about understanding the files themselves. ------------------------------- How to use PR's Briefing Editor ------------------------------- When you start the program, you are presented with a window with nothing much in it. You first have to load a file into the editor before it is of any use to you. * Loading a file... File|Open... This command lets you open a TXB file or TXP file. TXB FILES TAKE TIME!!! Once you have opened a file, you will see a list with sections in it. These sections correspond to the sections in the TXB or TXP file. You will now want to edit a section. Double click the section in the list that you wish to edit. After you have done this, another window will come up. This lets you finally edit some text. * Edit text... Double Click an item in the list You will see one section of briefing now. You can change the words, add more words, delete words. You will now be wondering what those black squares are. * Black Squares = Control Codes These control codes tell Descent when it gets to loading them that it has to deal with the letters/numbers after it to the end of the line in a special way. What this means is that if Descent gets to a control code and a P after it, it knows that that is the end of page marker, and instead of displaying a P, it knows it is the end of a page. THE ENTIRE LINE with a control code on it makes Descent do something special. Lets take ÜC1. This tells Descent to change the text color. Just remember this Descent looks at the ENTIRE LINE of a control code. That means that you can't do the following: ÜC1Hello, this is ÜC2 not the way! This is the right way: ÜC1 Hello, this is ÜC2 the right way! You can change a control code directly by simply typing over the text in front of it, for instance, changing the C1 to a C2 by simply backspacing the 1 and typing a 2. A much simpler way is to double-click the control code. The Briefing Editor will then identify what it means and bring up a change box so you can change the code easily. * Double Clicking a control code will let you change what it means easily Say you want to change this code: ÜC1 Simply double click the code, and a box will come up with the following options: Green Text Beige Text The Green Text will be selected, because that is currently what color the text is. To change the code, simply select another color, beige text. When you click OK, the ÜC1 will be changed to a ÜC2 automatically, meaning beige text. You can change models, pictures, animations, and more simply by double clicking the control codes. I hope you understand so far... When you want to save, select File|Save ----------------- Advanced Features ----------------- Using TXP files... TXP files are native to PR's Briefing Editor. These files are already decoded, so therefore take A LOT less time to load. To use TXP files, you will have to save a TXB file as a TXP file. To do this, in the File|Save dialog box, name your new file with a TXP extension instead of a TXB extension. The rest is automatic... TXP files are loaded like any TXB file, only much faster. --------- Now What? --------- You have now made a super-cool briefing, but how do you use it? There are 2 ways... (1) Copy your briefing to your Descent directory and name it BRIEFING.TXB This will make Descent load your briefing instead of its own every time. (2) Include it in a HOG file. You can name it anything you like, and you must put the following line in your MSN file: briefing = your briefing name Note: your briefing name in the MSN file should be WITHOUT its TXB extension e.g. briefing = chaos This refers to the file CHAOS.TXB You should see what I've done to CHAOS! It's now got exit sequences and briefings! (This program can't do exit sequences, yet...) --------- Problems? --------- Remember, this is only a beta version. Expect bugs in the program. If you do locate a bug, don't hesitate to e-mail me. This allows me to swat the bug before other innocent people get a buggy copy of the program. If this program does something stupid, like erases you hard disk or anything like that, I do not take responsibility for this. Don't worry, it won't wreck your hard drive (at least I don't think so... :-) ) ---------- That's it! ---------- Congratulations, you have gotten to the end of this manual. I know it is not the best written thing in the world, so I will at this time provide help to those that need it badly. E-mail: prunge@ozemail.com.au That's it, now do some good with this program!