This will cover how to take an existing theater and copy/isolate it so you can edit it without affecting/porking anything else. This doesn't cover how to create a new theater or database from scratch. This also doesn't cover how to edit anything, only how to set up the file structure to get you started.
This procedure is based on FF4. Some of the filenames and/or steps may be different for any other flavor (esp. AF)
So here we go...
1. In your Falcon4 root dir, if there is not one there already, create a new folder called "Theaters".
2. Within that folder, create a new folder with the name of your new theater. Ideally you should preface the name with the name of the existing theater and do not use any spaces in the filename.
For example, I will be making a new theater that is based on the default Korean theater, and I'm going to call it
"Iron Shield". So my file structure up to this point should look like this:
\Falcon4\Theaters\Korea-IronShield
3. Now, within that folder, make 4 new subfolders named "Art", "Campaign", "TerrData", and "TheaterDefinition".
We will now fill each of these folders with the (minimum) necessary files...
ART DIR-
If the theater you are copying from had its own "Art" and/or "Art1024" folders, copy the contents of them into your new "Art" folder and skip down to the next section. Otherwise add these files:
4. Create 2 subfolders within the Art directory, "Main" and "Resource". So (using the IronShield example) you should now have this:
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\Art\Main
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\Art\Resource
5. In the \Art\Main folder, copy the file lcktxtrc.irc from the original theater. This file contains most of the campaign/theater text.
6. In the \Art\Resource folder, copy the files "Select.idx" and "Select.rsc" from the original theater. These contain the artwork for the 3 campaigns that you see in the campaign selection screen.
CAMPAIGN DIR-
7. Copy all of the files from the "Campaign" or "Campaign\SAVE" folder for the theater you are copying into your new "Campaign" folder. There should now be over 100 files in your \Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\Campaign folder and no subfolders. The most important files in here you will be editing are the "Save#.cam" files (the campaign files you will edit with tacedit) and the "Save#.tri" files (campaign event trigger files).
TERRDATA DIR-
8. Copy all of the files and subfolders from the "\TerrData" folder from the original theater you are copying into your new "\Terrdata" folder. If the existing theater did not have its own DB, then copy the original Korean DB. You should now (at least) have this:
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\TerrData\Objects (database files including Falcon4.fed and/or Falcon4Tree.fed)
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\TerrData\Objects\(OriginalTheaterName)Obj (folder containing skin files)
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\TerrData\(OriginalTheaterName) (Folder containing terrain and texture files)
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\TerrData\MiscTex
THEATERDEFINITION DIR-
9. Search for the theater definition files for your original theater. There are 2 and they typically are named the same as the theater, one has the file extension .tdf (the theater definition file) and the other has the extension .tga (targa format file, this is the artwork you see in the theater selection screen). Copy these two files into your new "TheaterDefinition" folder and rename them to be appropriate with your new theater name.
You should now have this (again using IronShield as an example - substitute your theater name):
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\TheaterDefinition\(Korea-IronShield).tdf
\Falcon4\Theaters\(Korea-IronShield)\TheaterDefinition\(Korea-IronShield).tga
EDITING THE TDF FILE-
10. Now open the .tdf file for your new theater with a text editor and alter it as follows:
Code: Select all
# Name shown on the theater selection screen:
# (Put the name of your new theater below):
name Korea - Iron Shield
# Description shown on the theater selection screen:
# (Write a short description for your theater):
desc This is an example theater called Iron Shield.
# Bitmap shown on the theater selection screen:
# (Change "Korea-IronShield" to the name of your new theater dir you created in step 2):
# (Change the name of this file to the name of the .tga file you created in step 9):
bitmap Theaters\Korea-IronShield\TheaterDefinition\Korea-IronShield.tga
# The campaign directory for the theater:
# (Change "Korea-IronShield" to the name of your new theater dir you created in step 2):
campaigndir Theaters\Korea-IronShield\Campaign
# Location of the terrain data directories ("\Terrain\", "\Texture\"):
# (Change the path to point to your new theater but leave the theater name the same as it was in the original .tdf file):
terraindir Theaters\Korea-IronShield\TerrData\Korea
# Location of the art directories ("\Art\" and "\Art1024\"):
# (Change "Korea-IronShield" to the name of your new theater dir you created in step 2):
artdir Theaters\Korea-IronShield
# Location of the movies directory ("\Movies\"):
# (This can be left alone):
moviedir
# Directory containing the UI sounds:
# (This can be left alone):
#uisounddir Sounds
# Directory containing the object data files ("\Falcon4.fed", etc.):
# (Change "Korea-IronShield" to the name of your new theater dir you created in step 2):
objectdir Theaters\Korea-IronShield\TerrData\Objects
# Directory containing the misctex files:
# (Change "Korea-IronShield" to the name of your new theater dir you created in step 2):
misctexdir Theaters\Korea-IronShield\TerrData\MiscTex
# Location of the directory containing the object skin files ("\KoreaObj\"):
# (Change "Korea-IronShield" to the name of your new theater dir you created in step 2):
3ddatadir Theaters\Korea-IronShield\TerrData\Objects
# Minimum tacan channel:
# (This can be left alone):
mintacan 1
# Directory containing the sound files:
# (This can be left alone):
sounddir Sounds
11. Finally, open the file "Theater.lst" located in your \Falcon4 root dir. Add the following line (of course change "Korea-IronShield" to your theater name):
Code: Select all
Theaters\Korea-IronShield\TheaterDefinition\Korea-IronShield.tdfThere you go. Hard part's done. Now all you gotta do is edit your new theater.
