Mission & Map editor

posted on March 4th, 2008, 5:37 pm

Like many Armada II players/modders, I've been waiting for the promised (by mad doc) mission editor/creator. It now seems that this won't actually be released. However, there is the mission editor for Legacy that's supposed to be adaptable for Armada II.
Is there any chance of the Fleetops team having a go at this? Perhaps with a nice front end for those of us that don't speak Klingon (read:C++)!

This should be usable with any plain or modded version of A2, in the same way the patch project is. I know you guys have a lot on your plate, what with FO & PP, but I firmly believe that a misson editor will be THE most important addition to the game yet, and from what I've read on various boards out there, it seems as if the guys at Fleetops are the one's to do it.

Just think how great it would be to be able to write single player campaigns for all those mods out there!

And then of course, there's the map editor..... I haven't actually played FO yet (still trying to figure out how to do multiple mod installations and don't want to lose my personal mod), but as I understand it, FO features maps that are much bigger than those in standard A2. Sooooo.... Can we have a map editor that creates these super size maps for standard A2?

Between the Patch Project, a mission & map editor, and ALL those fantastic mods out there, we will essentially have created Armada III.

Redshirt

3240 posts

posted on March 5th, 2008, 2:55 am

I wouldn't get my hopes up on any A2/Legacy compatibility, but I do agree that a mission editor would be awesome.

Captain Rand

Topic Starter

4 posts

posted on March 5th, 2008, 10:13 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on March 6th, 2008, 9:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Quotes from Icewolf on Majestic Sci Fi forums...
"I don't know if this would be any count for Armada, but Maddoc/Bethesda are going to release modding tools for Legacy...since they both pretty much use the same engine the Legacy tools might be of some help...but we still don't know what they're going to release"

And Majestic.....
".......if anything tools will come out for Legacy and may be compatible for A2 as Legacy uses an updated A2 engine."

And Paulhanselluk....
"Ive been asking around, and the legacy tools can be modified to be used to work for A2, all we need is someone, who is good at C++, and has some time on there hands."

The entire thread can be found here- http://www.majesticscificentral.com/forum/showthread.php?t=436

I doubt Maddoc will ever bother to release anything for A2 now, considering the age of the game. After all, they want us to go and buy their new games, not carry on playing old ones. Is it worth even contacting them about it anymore?[br]Posted on: March 05, 2008, 07:53:45 AM

Oops. I should have done a little more research before starting this thread. Some of what I've written above is out of date. Sorry about that!

Ok, I've been looking around for more information, and as I'm sure most of you already know, the Legacy editor was released around Aug 07

It seems that although missions are created using C++, The editor itself was written in C#. However, according to Bethesda's wiki.......
http://stl.bethsoft.com/stmodwiki/index.php/Main_Page
.....you can use the free Visual C# Express to modify the code

Taken from Bethesda's Legacy forum

Question by Joelteon7 @ Aug 11 2007
"sbailey, considering you seem to obviously know quite a bit about this, just wondering if you'll be able to answer this: will this allow mission editing for Star Trek: Armada 2, or are these tools purely for Legacy?"

Answer by sbailey: Aug 11 2007 (Coder and unofficial support guy for the mission editor).
"I was one of the three people who worked on the tool, so I know a bit, yeah.

What I don't know, though, is whether or not it's compatible with Armada. I think the script and rule language is the same. If Armada used the same XML files as Legacy, then you could use the tool with it, but I'd be very surprised if that were the case. I'm guessing that it works similarly, but differently.

The mission editor isn't that large of a program. It's really just a front end that takes away the grunt work of having to make sure your objectives file, for example, is compatible with your labels file, organizes the data, lets you edit stuff in place, and packages your work up in a shareable format. So someone who knows c# and is savvy about how Armada works could probably take the mission editor source and tweak it a bit."

ChessMess over at STGU says this:
"It might work with Armada II, the key would to be sure to not use any functions that were created for Legacy. I say there is a good chance it could work, I don't know what kind of version checking the API does within the engine."

Personally, I'd like to import the four campaigns from A1 into A2, and have them playable first, with the A2 campaigns following on. With PP restoring the lost features of A1 into A2 it would effectively combine both games into one. I really liked the way A2 carried on from where A1 left off.

That's just for starters of course![br]Posted on: March 05, 2008, 01:03:03 PM

Oh yes, and BTW....

I DO realize this thread doesn't suggest/request new features specifically for FleetOps. It's just that I could'nt find a thread that says "Do you think there are any OTHER projects the FleetOps team should take on"