Some editing 101

[R.Y.A.N.]

OK I'm no pro but I do see a small need for the very basics of editing on the map.

I am going to assume that any prospective editor has at least monkeyed around on the editing screens and can place a unit, select the unit's type and facing, and set a waypoint. When I refer to "use the Unit command" what I mean is- the "Unit" header on the editor is active. This is all pertinent to the "Advanced" mode in the editor.
Here's a couple useful things concerning those two very basic elements of mission editing and design:

Units and groups: Groups are obviously made up of individual units. So why should I need to know more? Because sometimes an individual unit within a group won't do what you tell him to, or he will only face where the group is facing, or you accidentally place too many individual units near your group and you get a "too many units in group" error.
To seperate an individual unit from a group: Use the Group command and click and drag on the unit you wish to seperate. Drag AWAY from any other units and that individual unit should 'break off' and in effect form his own group. Note: if, for some reason, you set a bunch of say, dead bodies, by placing live soldiers on the map and then editting their health to zero, if they are in the same group, they will all lie oriented the same way- the way the highest ranked stiffy is, or the first one, if all the same rank. If you seperate them, they will lie where you determine they should via the compass on the edit unit menu. Just a "fer example" of why you might sperate a group you placed with the "group" command. Also, if in the same group, you have less control over where those soldiers will be placed.

Deleting a unit: Related to the above is, "how do I delete a unit?". So simple it's overlooked. Select the unit while under the "Unit" command and just press SHIFT and DELETE together

Waypoint behavior: When you set a unit or group's waypoint, under the 'edit waypoint' menu are a few fields such as "speed", "formation", and "behavior". Behavior can have a big impact. For instance, if set to 'safe' or 'careless', the unit or group, if ground soldiers, will shoulder their rifles. Just the thing for a platoon walking down a road in a rear area. If set to 'safe', they will react if shot at, and if 'careless' they are pretty mindless bufoons. I tend to stay away from 'careless'. 'Safe' or 'careless' behavior will also enable you to make the individual do certain things that 'aware' or 'combat' or 'stealth' won't. For example: if you want a soldier to sit, he might not if he's anything but safe or careless. He might also sit and then immediately stand back up.

I'm getting disco'd a lot today, so I'll post this and talk a bit about some specific commands and touch on the "action" commands a bit more in a reply.

[Artak]

Hello R.Y.A.N

This is our tutorials section. http://www.ofpec.com/editors/browse.php?browsewhat=1

This is where one can submit tutorials. http://www.ofpec.com/editors/submit.php?type=1

[R.Y.A.N.]

Let's say you want a US soldier to be sitting on his arse from the instant the mission starts and just wait.

OK, place your player's unit and a friendly US soldier near each other. Seperate the units. Use the "unit" command to edit the soldier you want to sit. Under the edit unit menu, there's a blank field called "Initialization". In the blank text field, type:

this switchmove "effectstandsitdown"

You don't need to name him for this example. Now set him a waypoint, quite near his start point. Set his behavior to 'safe'.

When you preveiw the mission, the soldier should immediately sit ans stay put. If shot at, he should react. A great command for a lazy sentry in a rear area or a few guys sitting around a campfire, which brings me to another command, a bit more in depth, which is the famous "action" command


let's say you want a soldier to light a fire. Place your player's unit and a friendly unit side by side. Seperate them so they aren't in the same group, just like in the "sit down" example. Place a fire quite close by the soldier who isn't under your command. Edit the soldier so he has a name- it's put right in the 'name' field. Now name the fire the same way (different names, please ) Let's say your soldier is "priv1" and the fire is "fire1" ~ note: quotes are NOT typed in the name field.
Now set a waypoint for priv1, quite close to the fire. Check out the edit waypoint menu for a bit. There's a blank field called "On Activation". In this blank field type:
priv1 action ["Fire inflame", fire1]
That labels who's doing what, and to who: priv1 will perform an action to the class of object called fire, that action is to light the fire, the fire he will light is called fire1.
While still editing the waypoint, make his Behavior 'safe'.

When you preview the mission, the soldier named priv1 should bend down and light the fire. If you like, add another waypoint that has this in the "On activation" field, and he should stand back up:
this switchmove "effectstand"


I've taken care to take notes as I perform these two examples in the editor and I think I've missed nothing. However I am not Joe Editor and i do make mistakes. If anyone spots a discrepancy or a syntax error I have posted, please reply with a correction. I am trying to clarify a few things to give newbies a solid base to build on, not confuse folks further


RYAN

[R.Y.A.N.]

Artak- sorry, my bad. I should have checked first. Let's us move this post

[Kaliyuga]

 Yeah...  as Artak said... the best outlet for this kind of info is to write it up in a small tutorial and submit it to the site

But as this isn't a question so much as unsolicited information, I'm going to lock this topic.

There really isn't any way to move the post to anywhere more appropriate, to save yourself the typing again perhaps you can copy/paste into a word program and call it a tutorial

#topic locked#