The Arvoch Alliance SE Mission Editor allows you to create mission files for a custom campaign. It edits mission files in plain text format, so anything created with it can also be edited by opening the mission files in a text editor to make manual changes. Any custom mission files need to be placed inside the '\media' folder within the game's installation folder. To avoid applying filenames that would conflict with the default mission files of the game and to enable the game to detect any custom campaign mission files, you'll need to include a 'c' character in your first mission filename ('missionc1.txt'). From there, you can specify custom filenames for winning and losing paths, but the first mission file needs to follow that naming convention.
The editor provides options to undo or redo a last action as well as load and save missions via links at the top of the menu above the map. The map itself displays the current sector for the mission on a grid marked at 50K coordinate intervals. Mission specific locations and ships are colored green, planetary environmental factors are yellow, asteroids and stars are gray, and nebula clouds are blue. Black holes are red and wormholes are purple. To navigate the map, simply use the Zoom Out and Zoom In option to view more or less sectors centered to the current selected sector. Click on a sector when zoomed out to zoom in on that sector and center the map to it. Click on 'Quadrant' to view the entire quadrant of space available for missions. While in the quadrant map mode, click on a system to zoom in on its location. Click on 'Sector' to return to the sector view mode from the quadrant mode without selecting a system.
This page is divided into seperate sections for each category of mission editing options (primarily the options selectable at the bottom of the menu). Here are the different sections:
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1. Mission Specs 2. Ships/Fighters 3. Weapons/Equip 4. Briefing 5. Additional Information/Options |
| Mission Specs |
Mission Filename:
This field is for the full path and filename of the mission file being edited.
Mission Name:
The name of the mission as displayed in the game.
Mission Objective:
The primary initial objective of the mission, set the mission mode which establishes initial parameters as well as what the game monitors to determine if the mission is completed or potentially failed.
Sector X/Y/Z:
The sector location of the mission. Can be selected via the map at the right side of the menu. Use the 'Quadrant' Map Mode, then click on a system to set the mission sector location to the central sector in the system. You can then use Zoom Out to bring more sector into view and optionally click on a different one to select a different sector for the mission to take place in. You can also optionally edit the sector values manually by clicking on them, typing in a value, then pressing enter.
Start X/Y/Z:
These are the in sector coordinates where the mission will start from. You can select the starting point by clicking and dragging the '+' symbol anywhere on the map once you have selected and zoomed in on a sector or you can manually edit the values.
Total Waypoints:
The total number of waypoints to include in the mission.
Waypoint to Edit:
The current waypoint to edit location and required kill count for. Left clicking on the option will toggle through each waypoint sequentially. Right clicking will toggle in reverse order.
Waypoint X/Y/Z:
The in sector coordinate location of the current selected waypoint. You can optionally move the current waypoint location by clicking and dragging the green box that appear on the map or manually edit the values. If you don't see a green box on the map, simply click on Zoom Out and Zoom In to reset/update the map and all indicators should appear.
Required Kills:
If the mission objective includes the requirement to destroy hostile ships, this value sets the number of required ships to destroy before advancing to the next waypoint and/or completing the mission.
Total Events:
The total number of timed events in the mission.
Event to Edit:
The current event to edit. Each event number will be listed in a popup menu that appears with a description each event's action. You can scroll and select which event to edit with that menu.
Event Type:
This is the type of event action you want the game to perform for the currently selected event. For certain events, a data value needs to be specified in the 'Event Data' field. Available events are:
- Ship/Object Explodes = Destroys a specified object or ship.
- Play Sound = Plays a specified sound.
- Ship(s) Warp In = Ships arrive in the area.
- Ship(s) Warp Out = Ships depart the area.
- Ship(s) Decloak = Ships appear in the area.
- AI Attack Target = Orders specified ships to attack a particular target ship.
- New Waypoint = Sets a new waypoint.
- Win Mission = Automatically wins/finishes a mission.
- Ship(s) to Hostile = Switches specified ships to hostile threat level.
- Ship(s) to Friendly = Switches specified ships to friendly threat level.
- Display Text Message = Display a line of text in the message log.
Event Time:
Specifies the missions time you want the event to occur. Always be sure to keep events in sequential order, both numerically as well as chronologically. All missions start at time 00:00:00 in HH:MM:SS format. So to specify a time for an event, simply enter the values in their respective place. For example, if you wanted an event to occur at 2 minutes and 18 seconds into a mission, you would enter 00:02:18 in this field.
Alternatively, you can specify a delay timer for the current waypoint. To do that, simply enter a numerical value up to 5 digits in length. The number will represent the time for the delay in seconds. This can be useful for events that don't rely on preset ship positions or fixed mission timing. The player simply needs to arrive at a specified waypoint and remain in range of the waypoint until the delay timer expires. The event will then activate.
Event Data:
Specifies the value to use for the event. For example, if the event type plays a sound, you'll need to enter the filename of the sound you want the game to load and play (include any relevant paths if you keep mission files in separate folders with the root '\media' folder, example: mission1sounds\sound1.wav). If the event type displays a text message, enter the line of text you want to display in the mission log. For ship events, you'll need to specify the ship index starting at 1221 for the first ship in the list as displayed in the 'Ships/Fighters' menu (details on that menu are available below). Ship indexes start at 1221 as a separate array for their actual internal index values whereas lower or higher values can be for other objects. So for ships, simply keep the internal object index for each ship aligned with its respective list position in both menus, starting with 1221 = 1, 1222 = 2 and so on (just add 1220 to any listed ship). For the New Waypoint objective, simply specify the X, Y, and Z coordinates for the waypoint separated by commas (example: 40000,0,40000).
Next Mission (Succeed/Fail):
These fields specify the next step in the course of the campaign based on whether the player succeeds for fails. This way, you can specify multiple branches for a campaign based on player performance. You'll need to specify the next mission file to load for each path. You can optionally leave out the fail mission filename if you only want a winning path for your campaign from the current mission being edited.
Medal Award:
The medal to award the player if they successfully complete the mission.
| 2. Ships/Fighters |
This menu displays all of the ships for the current mission and provides options to change parameters for each either individually or as groups. The top row of ships with green numbers below them are the friendly ship indexes. The second row of ships with red numbers below them are the hostile ship indexes. To select a ship to edit, simply click on its index/icon. To edit more than one ship at a time, hold the control or shift key and click on each ship's index/icon that you want to edit. To deselect, simply click on some other ship index and the rest will be deselected. Once selected, brackets ('[]') will appear around the index value(s). The player's ship for the mission is highlighted by greater than and less than symbols ('<>'). When you select a ship or multiple ships, icons will appear on the map to show their location. You'll need to manually edit the position value for each ship to keep them closer together at various waypoints and locations.
To add ships to a mission, simply click on a blank index that does not have a ship icon displayed. To remove ships from a mission, select the ships first, then click on the 'Clear Ship(s) From Mission (del)' link near the top of the menu above the map. You can click on the 'Selection Edit Mode' link to select editing ships individually when you click on them (Edit Individually) or to enable automatically selecting ships as a group (Edit All Selected). Click on 'Player Position' to change the player's assigned ship for the mission. Left clicking will advance the index to the next available index while right clicking will decrease the index to the previous available index. Always be sure to assign the player's index to one with an available ship (it's generally best to keep the index at the default Alpha 1/index 1 position). Ships are assigned to wings in groups of four.
The first four ships are the Alpha wing, the second Beta, the third Gamma, the fourth Delta, and the fifth Epsilon. The last four ship indexes on each row are reserved for available capital ships to include in the mission. However, you can also assign additional capital ships in lower indexes, if desired.
Whenever you make changes to available 'Ship(s) Parameters', you'll need to click on the 'Apply to Ship(s)' link at the right of each option to apply changes or click on the 'Apply All Specs to Ship(s)' at the bottom of the parameter list to apply all displayed values to the selected ship(s).
Ship Type:
The ship of ship to assign to the selected index(es). Clicking on the option brings up a menu with a list of all available ship types. Use the scrollbar at the side to access all available types, then click on the one you want to select. As mentioned earlier, you will need to click on 'Apply to Ship(s)' or 'Apply All Specs to Ship(s)' to apply any selected values to highlighted ship indexes.
Ship Faction:
This sets the faction for the selected ship(s). Available options are Alliance (Allian), Federation (Fedrtn), and Vonari. It's generally best to keep friendly ships in the upper row and hostile ships in the lower row, but you can optionally mix and match.
Ship Threat Level:
This option specifies a threat level for the selected ship(s). 1 = friendly, 2 = neutral, 3 = hostile.
Ship Position X/Y/Z:
Sets the starting coordinate position for the selected ship(s).
Ship Heading:
The starting direction for the selected ship(s). Range 0-359.
Ship Directive:
The initial directive for the ship to follow. You can set their directive to hold at a current nav location, join formation with the player, reload/repair, or attack a specific ship. All ship indexes are available for the last option in the pop up menu that appears. Each internal index is also displayed next to each list index to help keep track.
Ship Waypoint X/Y/Z:
Sets the initial waypoint location for the selected ship(s) to move toward. You generally won't need to use these values unless there is a need for a specific path for a ship or group of ships outside of the confines of player orders/directives or internal AI decisions.
Ship Hull Status:
Sets the starting hull damage level for the selected ship(s).
Ship Engine/Navigation/Weapon Status:
Sets the starting subsystem damage levels for the selected ship(s).
Player Fuel Amount:
Sets the amount of fuel in units the player starts with.
Alliance Carrier Name:
The name of the carrier for the mission from which the player is launching.
Place Ship(s) at starting Location:
Places the selected ship(s) at the starting location of the mission specified in the Mission Specs menu.
Place Ship(s) at Current Waypoint:
Places the selected ship(s) at the current waypoint selected in the Mission Specs menu.
Escort/Delivery/Spy (visible when selecting a capital ship):
Sets the currently selected capital ship for an escort, delivery, or spy mission objective.
| 3. Weapons/Equip |
This menu lets you specify the weapons and equipment that will be loaded onto each ship in the mission (mostly for human ships as Vonari ships will use their own). As of this writing, some variation may be allowed for AI ships to select their own configurations, so it's best to consider this menu primarily for selecting weapon and equipment options for the player specifically. You can also restrict some weapons or make them available to the player in this menu.
Ship(s) Missile #:
Sets a missile for each secondary hardpoint for the selected ship(s).
Ship(s) Particle Cannon:
Sets the particle cannon for the selected ship(s).
Ship(s) Beam Cannon:
Sets the beam cannon for the selected ship(s).
Player Equipment #:
Sets the equipment type for each available hardpoint. It's generally best to at least include a Repair System and a Jump Drive unless you want to specifically restrict the player from those items.
Require Player Use Configuration:
This option restricts the player to only being allowed to use the parameters you specify.
Available Ships/Equip/Weapons:
This menu lets you select which ships, equipment, and weapons are to be available to the player. This way, you can limit the player early on in a campaign from being able to access more advance items. Then as the campaign progresses and potentially gets more difficult, you can expand the available items as desired. Simply click the checkboxes for the items you want to make available to the player. And for the 'Shields' option, left click to increase the maximum available shield core value or right click to decrease it.
| 4. Briefing |
This menu lets you specify parameters for the briefing stage of each mission prior to launching.
Briefing Audio:
Sets the sound file to play for the currently selected stage of the briefing. If no audio file is specified, then the game will wait for the duration of time specified in the 'Briefing Wait Minimum' before advancing to the next stage. With an audio file specified, the game will advance to the next stage once it has finished playing.
Briefing Animation:
Sets the animation icon to display at the top of the briefing menu for the current stage.
Briefing Wait Minimum:
The minimum amount of time to wait before advancing to the next briefing stage. As mentioned above, if no audio file is specified, this will be the length of time in seconds that the game will wait before advancing to the next stage. Otherwise, the next stage will advance when the selected audio file has finished playing.
Briefing Stage Total:
The total number of stages for the briefing stage of the mission. Left click to increase or right click to decrease.
Edit Briefing Stage:
This selects which briefing stage to currently edit. Left click to increase or right click to decrease.
Briefing:
These lines let you enter the text you want to display during the current stage of the briefing. You can select the first line and then type what you want to display. The editor will automatically advance each line as the character limit is reached. You can also edit each individual line by clicking on it. When you've finished editing a line, simply press enter. It's generally best to have any mission briefing audio match the displayed text.
| 5. Additional Information/Options |
You can optionally keep the editor open while running the game to make edits to your campaign mission files and then reload the mission being edited in the game to test any changes you apply. This can be a handy way to fine tune parameters and objectives. As you advance in your campaign, you can go back and play previous missions in case you need to review and edit parameters for those earlier missions. The mission editor uses a fully scalable windowed mode. This means you can click on the full screen window frame button to enlarge the entire editor to make things easier to see and read.