Rise of Flight - Dogfight Generator Beta 03

2009. október 25., vasárnap 11:35

Rise of Flight - Dogfight Generator Beta 03

Írta: Sanyo

Megjelent a Laser által készített Quick Dogfight Generator beta 03-as verziója. A program használatáról angol nyelven:

Quick Dogfight Generator - Version 2.0
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by Gabi/Laser (Gabriel Lazăr)

Sponsored by 777 Studios
Templates by TX-Kingsnake and TX-Gunslinger

Usage:
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Archive can be extracted to any directory (some use the desktop, i prefer something like "D:\Games\Utils" as base folder). Then you can make a shortcut on the desktop to the executable.
On first page, select a mission template - the scene where you'll fight. Depending on the template (an 'incomplete' mission), you can get also ground targets, so it isn't always necessary to generate more planes other than yours, e.g. to train yourself for ground attacks.
On second page, you can select an already made weather preset, or you can make your own - modify sliders, modify preset name and save it. Values are stored in the "Weather.ini" file, so if you look in this file you can also edit manually.
On third page, you have always defined the player's flight (mandatory). In addition, you can add some other flights. Their status (enemies, friends) is decided by the country you choose for each flight. The generator has hardcoded the fact that 'Order' is France, Great Britain or US, and 'Opposite' is Germany or Austro-Hungary. [The official Mission Editor allows for more freedom (Order is the attacking part etc.), but so far this was enough to get things going. So when you choose a country for a flight, you automatically choose your side.]
The mission name when saving the generated mission will be stored in the localizationfile, so you'll see it in RoF. This was done due to feedback on beta testing, it is an obvious option, but unfortunately it precludes me from also generating a .list file, which is needed for multiplayer (the .list file has some checksums for resources, which only RoF knows how to compute). This which means, when making COOP missions, before trying to use them, open the mission in the official Mission Editor once, perhaps pretend to edit it a little, then save it in your cooperative folder.
The flights are also saved when you click 'Finish' in the "RoF_DogfightGen.ini" config file. When generating a new mission, each flight found in the .ini file will have its options taken from there (i.e. if flight 2 exists from previous round and it was a german flight of 3 albatroses etc., each time you add flight number 2 you'll have that options in the flight page loaded). If a flight number is not already in the .ini file, default options are used for that flight page.

Other notes:
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To add new planes (released after a new RoF patch), look into Airplanes.ini to see how the other planes and their skins were added. To find out names of planes and their skins, use the official mission editor - after each patch, it contains any new planes/skins/objects supported by the game.While most options are saved when closing the program, the flight groups are not. If you really think you can't live without this option, tell me and i'll eventually implement it.
To modify the available templates, copy the mission files from the 'templates' directories somewhere inside RoF 'missions' directory. Then edit them using the official mission editor: for example, you can add any ground activity you want: flak, trains etc. Start from the Mission Begin object from the 'Template Logic' group, but don't modify that group otherwise (i.e. don't add new objectives; you can modify the subtitles though). You can add waypoints for new ground objects, timers, proxmity triggers etc to make the ground active. So basically you can enhance any template with: balloons, vehicles driving between new waypoints, trains, flak etc. in case you just want to practice ground attacks.
To create a new template, start by loading in the official mission editor the _Empty_template.Mission template (first, move it inside RoF/data/missions folder). Then move view to your target area, add buildings etc. around that zone, and finally move the 'Template Logic' group in the center of this area (where you want the dogfight to happen). Then save the mission to a different name and exit the ME. Move the mission files to the 'templates' directory where the quick mission generator is.
If you don't want the mission to finish after one side has all planes shot down, edit the template you use (or all) in the mission editor as specified above and disconnect any timers that go to the 'end mission' object. Also you should modify the subtitles that specify "... mission ends in 10 seconds" to reflect the new situation.
I have the US version of RoF. I don't really know how it will work with another (russian etc.) version, although i managed to load a .rus localization file so i presume it works. (So, appreciate any feedback on this topic).