Nile Editor Tutorial by Damor <TZW>

and :Escalation
Compiled by DAMOR <TZW>
Last updated 15 December 2004

The following document has been created to make your Delta Force: Joint Operations Mission creation using the Nile Mission Editor program a little easier. I have extracted the terrain images from NILE and also the basic map creation start up information. So on with the show.

This information is for those folks that may need a hand and might actually not have a clue as to how to use NILE at all or for that matter even make maps. The installation is very simple actually but still a lot of people ask the question or have issues relating to this very simple but overlooked issue.

First, just install the program to your selected location, If you go for the default. It should go to the C:\ drive at c:\program files\novalogic\joint operations. Now do an update for NILE using the Help menu, select Update. My most current update is .57.

Second, start NILE up, and click on FILE/PREFERENCES/SET RESOURCE DIRECTORY. Browse through the window to the Joint Operations directory which by default is c:\program files\Novalogic\joint operations then click okay. This tells NILE where to get all the game images and objects from without this set you will have an empty object list, if you have this problem that is the cause.

Now go ahead and set up your auto save file directory. Some users prefer not to turn this on as it may corrupt a file. I personally don’t use it, and save after every change I make. Just to be on the safe side.

First if you open the help file, you will get very basic instructions. Just enough to get you into trouble. Here are the instructions.

Now that we have read the instructions, let’s go through the process. Once you open the Nile program, you will get the basic screen layout. This consists of the menu bar across the top. The quick help buttons and the interface windows. We will have to start with the menu bar.

At this point you will need to go to the “MISSION” menu option along the top menu bar. Then go down and select the “Terrain Variables” option.

Now this will open another screen that will let you select the type of map “Terrain File” you will want to use. Go to the upper drop down box and select this.

This screen will let you select the terrain file and the environment file plus set the fog distance and type. These will be shown later. Select the terrain file menu drop down box and select your preferred Terrain File.

DVXC1.TRN

DVXG7.TRN

DVXI1_G.TRN

DVXC2.TRN

DVXG8.TRN

DVXI3.TRN

DVXC2A.TRN

DVXG8A.TRN

DVXI3A.TRN

DVXC2B.TRN

DVXG9.TRN

DVXI4.TRN

DVXG1.TRN

DVXI1.TRN

DVXI4_A.TRN

DVXG3.TRN

DVXI1_A.TRN

DVXI4_B.TRN

DVXG4.TRN

DVXI1_B.TRN

DVXI4_C.TRN

DVXG5.TRN

DVXI1_C.TRN

DVXI4_D.TRN

DVXG5B.TRN

DVXI1_D.TRN

DVXI5.TRN

DVXG6.TRN

DVXI1_E.TRN

FLAT.TRN

Some of these terrains are just variations on the primary terrain. Each map terrain has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is the creator that will decide which terrain is best suited for the mission. Once you have selected the terrain, you will then need to select your Environment File. This will create the overall setting during the mission. Basic lighting, Time of Day and such. There are five basic choices. You can modify these if you want to also. But that is for another tutorial later on.

Each of these environment files produces a different lighting effect and Time of day cycle. These can be selected as you get more proficient with the editor. Once you have both of these selected. Select the OKAY button on the bottom right hand corner. Once the program has brought up the image, you may only see white in the 3D mode. If you do, you will need to modify the fog setting. As in the example below, the fog is currently set at: 1000.0000. I have found it easiest to start at 1 and just keep adding zeros until the terrain becomes visible.

Click OK, and NILE will load the terrain. Now after its loaded you can either use 3D mode or 2D mode to see if its a terrain you would like to use. I prefer 2-d mode since you can look at the terrain with the height map. To view the height map right click your mouse on the terrain itself. Now, select "view mode/2D/height map" this will show the 2-d view of the height map.

Now if you like that terrain, you can switch back to the color map. Personally I leave it on height map, because its easier to see the objects when you place them down (they are a dark blue by default). Now you can go back and change your environment settings, like fog, TOD(time of day), etc. As of 0.49 when you either reset or reload your environment or terrain map it will reset all environment settings you might have set up. After you decided what you are going to use, then setup your env settings.

Major point here is that you can not have more than 1200 objects on screen. Look at the lower right hand corner while placing objects. Placing a group of trees will only count as 1 object, versus placing a bunch of single trees.

Open up NILE and in the top left hand corner click on 'File'
Select 'Preferences' click on 'Set Resource Directory'
Locate your JO'TR file in Novalogic click OK
In the Select Mod Resource box click on 'jox01' and click OK.

With JOE you should have all JO items and terrains available, and all the New JOE terrains and items . Heres some SS that show what Old Fox posted

First off, we start with the basic editor screen. On this screen we will need to select the Objects Palette tab along the left hand side of the NILE window. The windows in the right hand side of the screen are resizable. Just line up the mouse cursor along the right edge and drag until you find a good place to resize to. Now you can select 2D or 3D windows from here. I prefer to do my initial editing from the 3D window. There are four views available. They are broken up into small windows on the editor screen. In this example, the top left is set up for 3D view, top right is 2D Color Map, Bottom Left is 2D Color map at a higher altitude, and the bottom right is 2D Height Map.

In this example below, I have resized my 3D map to give me a larger viewing area. Then I will zoom in using the key combinations. WASD. And the Mouse / Spacebar combination. The keyboard shortcuts take some getting used to, but once you master them, it becomes quite easy.

Now all you need to do is select the type of object you want to place on the map. For this example, I will place a bunker on the map. To select the bunker object on the left hand side: select + Buildings, then scroll down until you get to [Cbunker1] – Concrete Bunker 1. Then select this item with a left click of the mouse. Now move your mouse into the editing window and place it where you want it. You may now continue to insert this object as many times as you want. When you are ready to add another item. Select it in the Objects window and place it on the map. Once its placed on the map, you will need to adjust it to the position you want it. To do this, you may need to adjust the AXIS properties. To do this:

Now if you know what axis’s are then you already got a head start, if you don’t this will explain it pretty simply. NILE uses 6 axis’s to place its objects in the 3D environment. You have X, Y, Z, Phi, Theta, Omega

Now X,Y,Z are the basic coordinates, looking northward, X is left and right, Z is north and south, and Y is up and down (height). Now remember this is also relative to what position you are facing also, because you might not be facing north. Now normally this doesn't matter because most placement is done with the mouse but you can also move things by changing the values also. Now Phi, Theta, Omega are the rotations of degrees on the X, Y, and Z axis’s. Basically if you change Phi to 45 it will tilt the object 45 degrees on the X axis. Same for Theta but on the Y axis (in 2-d this is your object rotation), and Omega is your rotation on Z.

Now that you have placed your objects in the map, you need to save your file. Trust me, save often. Select the FILE/SAVE AS menu option and save the file into your Joint Operations working directory. If this map is a work in progress, then save it into an alternate directory, I use a “working maps” directory. To leave the Object Palette placement mode, select the OBJECTS tab (to the left). This will move you into the objects editing mode. Now we need to enter a few spawn points. Return to the object palette mode and go to the Markers list and select start, Red Team and insert a point on the map, then do the same for the blue team.

Now we add a few vehicles into the map, just for the fun of it. Once you have placed your vehicles and other objects, you can then go to their properties screen by highlighting them in the OBJECTS windows and double clicking them. It is in here that you can set a few different things.

b - Team budget this setting is for when making a large map you can set the vehicles to not spawn if the number of players is this many players or more the vehicle will not spawn.

c - The AIP this is to the best on my understanding the Animation and sound files of the vehicles like chopper rotors and sound. If you have problems with your choppers with no sound etc. This is where you can fix that.

You should also insert a Map centerpoint it helps align the commander map grid. This is done by going to markers in the Object Palette and inserting the object called Map centerpoint in the center of your map.

Now that we have added all of the items that we need, Let’s try out our map. All we have left to do, is determine
what type of mission this will be. Go to the “MISSION” menu item and select the “Level Properties” option. Now
in this window, enter your basic information and select the mission type. I have selected to make this a Team
Deathmatch map. Select OK.

Now open Joint Operations and Host a network game. You should now be able to select your mission and run
the game.
If you are not able to see your mission in the missions dialog box, you may need to edit your Joint ops start up
icon. Right click on the icon and add the “/d” to the end of your Target line. After I made this change, I was able
to see my mission. This may have to do with my having installed the program outside of the default install
directory.

Once you enter the JO hosting screen, you will then select the type of mission you want to host.

Highlight your mission and select the + button to move it to the Right hand side of the screen. You may now
select the “START HOSTING” button.

There are currently 12 different type of missions/maps you can create. Of these 12, we will cover a few of them,
this will hopefully increase as time goes on and I become more familiar with NILE. To select your mission type,
select the Mission menu, then Level properties menu item. This will open the Object properties window. Now
look at the Game Type block and select your mission. As you select something besides Single Player, you will
notice the Player Respawn Allowed box gets grayed out. This prevents you from creating Multiplayer maps with
no respawn capabilities.

The first mission that we had created above in chapters 1 and 2 was a Team Deathmatch mission. This required
multiple spawn points for all players to start from. There should also be a fair enough amount of objects for
players to hide and fight from. Make sure that your map is equaled out for Snipers and CQB players. Okay, to
start, begin by selecting your mission terrain and environments. Then select the type of mission and name your
mission, name it something relating to the mission itself. NovaLogic has selected to prefix their map names with
the mission type, lets keep it that way:
SP for Single Player
COOP for Cooperative
DM for Deathmatch
TD for Team Deathmatch
AD for Attack and Defend
AS for Advance and Secure
KH for King of the Hill
TK for Team King of the Hill
CTF for Capture the Flag
FB for Flagball
SD for Search and Destroy
CC for Command and Control
Now that we have a mission naming convention, make sure you save your file with the same naming style.
Example is TK Mountaintop.npz. After we save the file we are now ready to place our Objects.
The following excerpts were taken from the Bluntz website tutorial (Special thanks to Bluntz for allowing me to copy his hard work):

2 - Make a base or something in the center of the map or maybe a village (just make some eye candy people like to have something to look at)

3 - Depending on how far apart your bases are you might want to set up a few PSP (Player Spawn Point) There are a few buildings that have this feature these are as follows. Any of the objects in the the Objects Palette in the Objects group with Change team & Spawn volume. And also the [CTflag] CTflag change team Flag [PSP] Place these objects as you do all objects as explained above.

4 - After you do these steps you will need to place a waypoint for everyone to follow in the center of the map.

-To do this go to markers in the Object Palette and find waypoint, mp alpha and place this in the center of the battle field you have set up. This way people will be able to find each other

1 - Make two bases for spawn points one for JO and one for Reb to start in like a TDM (when you make bases for TKOTH make sure your KOTH is far enough away from the bases that people cant just sit back and mortar refill and mortar some more).
2 - Find a center point between the two bases and set up a battlefield for your KOTH.
3 - You will need to set the KOTH center. To do this go to markers in the Object Palette and select KOTH center and place this in the center of your KOTH area. You can change the Radius of the KOTH area by selecting the KOTH center and clicking edit then you will see the Box for the Radius.(as shown in the pic below) Set this to your desired size

Use any of the "spawn and change side" buildings.
Set the LFP's like so. Say you have 5 bunkers for the AAS. Set the one closest to the JO with LFP group 1 and set the team to 1. And the three in the middle LFP group 2 and set the team to 0. Set the one by the Reb base with LFP group 3 and set the team to 2
The results you get from this is. The bunker by JO base start as JO's base you can spawn there. Same with the bunker by Rebs it starts as the Rebs base. The three in the middle are neutral.
Make sure to set the game type in the Level properties under Mission to Advance & secure and name the mission. .0
To set the LFP and team values click the object. Then select edit. You will see the box that says LFP groups.
Just change this value to the group you want them in.

By setting up the LFP's it also sets the waypoints and makes takeover area active.

1=JO
2=Rebs
0=Neutral
If you don't set the LFP's what you get is 3 player spawn points that anyone can take at any time. With no way points or anything.

I use this in my maps to display messages after certain amount of time has past Like this.

if never() and past(10) then
consol("Welcome to ManHunt! Will You Survive the Jungle?")
endif

To insert tunnel sections, there are a few rules that you will need to follow. First is that you can not currently run a tunnel under water and expect it to be dry, if the water level is above the tunnel, it will fill with water. Next is to ensure everything lines up. And to do this, you may well have to set your grids to 0.25.

Step 1 is to determine the layout of your tunnel system. This is going to be a simple roundabout tunnel. For the beginning entrance will use the 6m drop shack. This lets us set up the entire tunnel system to the lowest point. The picture below shows what my tunnel will look like when it is done. Entrance is on the top center and there are the two rooms set into the tunnel also.

Now lets add a tunnel entrance to your map. As I first set this entrance down it was too high. But after laying down the rest of the layout parts, I will drop everything together. I use the Number keypad buttons + and – to raise or lower the structure until I had it sitting on the ground at a reasonable level. Now what we need to do, is go underground to add additional sections.

Here are the three straight tunnel sections, 1 meter, 3 meter and the 9 meters section. It is best to use the 3D view to get the correct alignment for each section.

The sections below are the End Cap section (top left), End Corner section (top right), Three Way intersection (bottom Right) and the Four Way intersection (bottom left).

Now that I have selected and placed all of the basic tunnel sections onto the map where I want them, in the layout shape as shown above, I right click on the map and choose the “Select” option and then “All” option. Now since these are the only items on my map so far, this will cause no problems. Now with all of the items selected, I can view the basic information the whole set.

Now I use the + and – Keys on my numbers keypad to lower the entire group under ground. You could line up the entire tunnels above ground or under ground. I prefer under at this time. This way I will know that the terrain will cover it up. Once I have lowered the sections, I can again look at the properties and see the differences. You can see the only Number that has changed is the Y number. This is the elevation. I also prefer to work using the Absolute height option turned on. Just make sure the block is checked. This gives you height over water level, or sea level. Now that we have out sections under ground and sort of lined up, lets align then into something similar to a tunnel.

To do this, we will need to select a single tunnel section and use the Number keypad, again to manipulate/move the section around. As shown below in the FAQ section, 8,6,2,4 keys move the item forward, backward, left and right. The Control key makes it go quicker. Along the top of your keyboard, the number one key lets you select individual sections

, the number two key will let you move that single section

, or entire groups of sections, and the number three key will let you rotate sections

. Or you can use the buttons. Once you get your sections close to lined up. Now we get to the delicate part.

Once you have your sections lined up, you will no longer see multiple frames around the entrance, as in the picture below, here we need to move our frame to the right to line it up. it should look like a single frame.

Once we have completed lining up all of the map sections, and added a spawn point on the map, near the entrance of course. We can now enter the game ands select our new map. Once we enter the tunnels, we should see no white lighting show up along the walls or edges of tunnel section connections. If this happens. You will need to reenter the editor and adjusted the section as required. This is probably the longest part of your editing session. Back and forth until everything is just right. You will need to run around forwards and backwards, sideways and even try jumping around and low crawling, because this is what everyone will be doing on your map. Once we are happy that we have created a workable tunnel system, now we can populate it with furniture or other objects.

This will be done just like the above section with adding objects to your map, except now we have to place them below ground. Once you select the object, then place them onto your map using the 2D screen. Now you can select them all when you are ready and just adjust their height as required. I have selected a number of items and placed them onto the 2D map. I then went into their properties box and changed their Y number value to match that of the main tunnel system. Now everything is in the tunnel section. I just go in and modify items as required.

First set up your basic mission without waypoints and make sure it is running smoothly. Then I recommend running through the map to find out what would be your best waypoint routs. Then use the PROFILER to identify these routes in the editor. Now you are ready to start setting up waypoints.

You do not need to put Vehicle Spawn markers in a map in order to have those vehicles respawn.
All vehicles respawn automatically.
The spawn markers are for a more complicated system of spawning, associated with who owns what LFP.
Basically, you can set up LFPs with spawn points, where when one of the teams takes over that LFP, their vehicles will begin to spawn there. This is done by:

3) take all the Blackhawk’s and Super Puma’s and assign them to a spawn budget. In this case Blackhawk’s should be put in spawn budge 1 (JO) and Super Pumas in 2 (Rebel)

5) spawn markers are a good way to set up vehicles at LFPs if there is not much room to place vehicles, because you can have a spawn queue where:

say you have 1 spawn marker and 10 vehicles to spawn at that spot. Then while 1 is sitting there, 9 will wait to respawn. The second the vehicle leave
the spawn marker and is outside the radius of the vehicle trying to spawn, then the next vehicle will spawn at that marker.

I hope this is clearer. I have a doc I wrote up at work and i will post it when i get to work tomorrow.

Place two patrol guys a few meters apart.
Create a new waypoint list around the perimeter of your base. Make sure all the waypoints have a radius of 1. Set your wplist to Loop.
In the Events Palette, click New Event, and select Conditional.
Click New Condition and select Flow Control, Never.
Qlick New Action and select Units, Unit to waypoint. Choose your 1st patrol guy in the ssn popup and the waypointlist in the second. Click New Action again and repeat this step with the second guy.

Click New Condition and select Flow Control, Never. Can you explain what this does? And why you need it...Thanks

Basically, it will be true as soon as the mission starts -- and then only that one time during the mission. Actually, this also means they will NOT begin their patrol again, if you have them respawn...! In that case, you need another event to trigger the Unit to waypoint action.

I've been asked how to attach an AI to a vehicle/object. I dont make COOPs so i didnt know until i just tried it, Its Really not to hard to do, check the below screen shot to see how to make the Event

I use if Past as the Trigger ,
then unit move to unit
you need 2 AI to move to the Jeep
the First guy will be the Driver
the 2nd will get on the .50

if never() and Past(20) then //New Event
SSN2SSN(1000,66539)
SSN2SSN(1001,66539)
endif

Change Log as taken from the NILE readme.rtf file in the base directory of the editor. And also as stated in the file:

"Nile is BETA software and represents the future direction of Novalogic level editing tools. We have brought the community into the development process for Nile because we believe that the community represents the future of all our products. Help us to make Nile the definitive tool for level editing by giving your feedback about this tool on our 'Maps and Mods' forum at http://www.novaworld.com. We want to hear from you."

-version 0.71
Fixed precedence problem on 'execute once' expressions
Fixed copy/paste problem for LFP/Non-LFP items.

-version 0.70
Fixed crash from not selecting an object target when changing
Fixed copy/paste error for changed objects

-version 0.68
Fixed in MIS import: Team, AIP, Team Budget, Attribute flags
Fixed copy and paste of objects

-version 0.67
Added clipboard functionality for tiles
Changed background color for thumbnail views in object palette
Fixed keyboard usage in object lists
Some performance improvements with handling of object list

-version 0.66
Default fog distance to 1024m
Camera windows resize correctly when tool windows are adjusted
Added reflective property to LFP's
Object list refresh optimizations
Fixed panning tool selection bug
Fixed bounding rect draw from mouse/space release order
Deleting filter string no longer bolds all text
Fixed mixed absolute/relative height adjustment bug

-version 0.65
Increased texture heap to 96MB - Games should not use more than 64MB of Texture space. Please check your levels.
Invisible objects are no longer editable
Added vehicle radius circles.
Changes to env files will no longer affect fog settings.
Team budget values now copy correctly for vehicles.
Moved STR,IFL, and WAC file saving to 'Level properties' dialog. These options are now saved per mission.
Fixed some parser memory leaks.
Fixed chaining command in events.

- version 0.63
Added 'No Radar' flag to static objects
Added LFP group value to dynamic objects
Fixed bug in IFL file save routine
Added WAC 'Win','Rain','Overcast' commands

- version 0.60
Improved memory reporting
LFP groups for markers are now saving correctly
Team budget values for vehicles are now saving correctly
Water color/murk are not saving correctly (GAME update required)
Env and Terrain changes no longer dump tiles.

version 0.58
Added terrain toggle in view elements menu.
Removed exponential fog (not supported by engine)
Added IFL file generation.

version 0.57
Fixed object offset problem (objects placed incorrectly in game. Note that you may need to look at pre .57 missions to verify object placement. Some objects will have moved slightly.)

version 0.56
Fixed problem with marking valid expressions as invalid.
Fixed problem where Save As&ldots; was not changing the target file name.
Fixed problem with canceling action creation.
Added distance measurement tool.
Fixed item selection in events action list.

- version 0.55
Fixed some GUI display issues in tab controls.
Fixed deleting of waypoint lists.
Made first pass at WAC command definition file.
Fixed deleting events.
Modified if/then dialog boxes, made them much larger.
Fixed deleting objects and their effect on waypoint lists and events.
Added color coding to indicate broken expressions in the event editor.

- version 0.54
Fixed moving multiple tiles - tiles no longer shift relative to one another when dragging.
Fixed problem where older missions that were in tile or node mode when saved will work properly when loaded now.

- version 0.53
Fixed tile flipping buttons - they now flip on the correct axis.
Tile selection will be reflected correctly.
Selecting a new tile won't leave an artifact tile on the screen.
Mouse rotate now works with tiles.
The nudge and rotate keys now work with tiles.
Cleaned up tile editing mode behavior. Shouldn't have strange effects when changing modes or view modes now.
Added code to reset the detail cache when dragging tiles. This will hurt performance, but will now correctly render tiles that 'mow the lawn'.
Fixed tile drop location (incorrectly offset one meter before).

- version 0.52
Turned view frustum clipping back on in 2D modes. Should dramatically improve 2D performance, especially on object dense levels.

Sept 28, 2004 - I know that the waypoints still have some bugs, but I wanted to get this update out to you to help with some of the crash bugs - next up is tile bug fixes, then events.

- version 0.51
Moved Waypoints Dialog to the object tab control
Modified the method of waypoint list creation and editing
Selected objects now automatically scroll the object list to become visible
Removed ability to select 2D 'Tile Mode' and 'Node Mode' - It's not necessary and it's confusing.
Added arrow heads to waypoint ends.
Restricted Max Fog distance to 1024 m.
Added Middle Mouse button 'orbit' function. Hold middle mouse + space bar and move to orbit selected objects.

- version 0.50
Fixed some memory/resource leaks
Fixed top window problem with object fill extension dialog
Changed fill extension to drop N objects instead of seeking a density level in an area
Fixed crash caused by deleting objects
Added options check boxes to save dialog - can optionally choose to create/overwrite ancillary files.
Added group button on Object list tab
Fixed 'Absolute' flag not saving for some object types

- version 0.49
Added startup warning for non 32 bpp desktops
Added object help text to object palette
Made Object Info toolbar resizable while docked
Unzooming a view now returns to previous pane layout

- version 0.48
Fixed sphere rendering problem on env change
Placed vehicles now automatically set the default AIP for that vehicle type
Fixed scaling for magnify area
Object status is now updated during placement operations
Fixed snap to grid - objects will now always stick to grid when moving through axis

- version 0.47
Added compass heading to status bar
Added single player respawn check box in level properties dialog
Improved performance of camera moves using keyboard
Fixed object selection bug when objects are marked hidden
Fixed some dialogs getting placed behind camera windows

- version 0.46
Added paste packet support for flags
Changed group rotate algorithm
Made .NPZ format the default output format
Fixed environment change causing deletion of object list bug (thanks to Killipso VVV)
Fixed point and vector selection

- version 0.45
Added indestructable flag to static objects
Added No Shadow flag to static objects
Added Reflective flag to static objects

- version 0.44
Fixed group rotate bug
Added team budget support for vehicles
Added water color and murk settings to environment controls
Fixed graphic update on new object selection when dragging

- version 0.43
Fixed rotation shortcut keys.
Fixed window focus problems in object placement mode.
Fixed some problems in the mis importer. Emplaced weapons should work now.
Moved some objects from DItems list to MItems list.
Fixed LFP's not loading/saving radii correctly.
Fixed Keystate reading for shortcut keys.

Nile updates have no specific time schedule, however, they will be frequent and there will be many. Some days you may get 3 or 4 updates in a single day, and sometimes it may be a week or two with no updates. But keep an eye out and attempt to update your game regularly.

There are no BMSs with NILE. NILE works with NPJ files (Nile Project Files) which contain not only the data necessary to edit the mission, but also the data necessary to load the mission in game. Thus an NPJ file = MIS file + TIL file + BMS file.

The STR file is a “string resource” file that contains the various text strings applicable to that mission. Though this feature is not fully functional, eventually the capabilities of TextTool will be merged with NILE and the STR file will equal the RC file + BIN file. However this feature is not fully functional so in order to generate text strings for things like Map Named Locations, you will still have to use TextTool, RC files and BIN files.

Currently you can place Map Named Location markers, but there is no way to associate them with the text strings in the RC and BIN file. However, keep an eye out here for an update.

The events system in NILE is wholly based on the WAC scripting language. Currently, the events system in NILE is not fully functional, but when it is, you will be able to create events in NILE which will then be exported as a WAC file. Thus all events and scripting for a level will be within the WAC file that the game will read.

The camera controls are standard FPS controls. WASD for forward, left, backward and right. Q and E will make you go up and down. Holding down space bar and left clicking will give you free look. Holding spacebar and right clicking will give you advanced camera controls.

(7) How do I set up LFP Groups and takeovers?
Setting Up and Configuring LFPs

First you have to place down your LFPs. These are found under the objects section of the Object Palette:
Once you have your LFPs placed down you have to set up the respective LFP groups.
To set the group that an LFP would be associated with, you simply open up the LFPs item attributes and set the corresponding group number. LFPs numbered 1 would appear in the first group, 2 would be the second group, and so forth until you reach the last group of LFPs.

In this example, Group 2 has two LFPs on it which means that players must take over ALL the bases in this group before they can proceed onto the next set of bases.
While you can set bases to start out as neutral, it is important that you only ever have one Group of LFPs set to neutral. If there are more than one group set to neutral than teams may accidentally take over the bases in the incorrect order and this could result in preventing the teams from taking over the other bases. IN order to fix this, the team would have to retreat from the base they took over out of order and then allow the enemy to take it over.

(8) How do I move objects around?
There are a few ways to do this. The most obvious way is to select the object then click the button that looks like this "+" but is actually 2 intersecting arrows. this will allow you to move the object around on the terrain. To raise the object up, simply hold down the shift key and make use of this tool.

(9) Are there any "nudge" keyboard controls for moving objects?
Yes. They are all on the numpad or the arrow keys:
/ - Snap to terrain
* - Snap to water
8, 6, 2, 4 - Move object up, right, down, left 1/256th of a meter
cntrl + 8, 6, 2, 4 - Move object up, right, down, left 1 meter
7, 9 - Rotate object left, right 1 degree
cntrl + 7, 9 - Rotate object left, right 15 degrees
up arrow, down arrow - Pitch object backwards, forwards 1 degree
cntrl + up arrow, down arrow - Pitch object backwards, forwards 15 degrees
left arrow, right arrow - Roll object left, right 1 degree
cntrl + left arrow, right arrow - Roll object left, right 15 degrees

*Note: these controls may stop working, or may not all work at the moment, but this is what they are supposed to do, and in future updates they should all do this.

(10) How do I get my mission name to appear in the load menus, as opposed to the filename?
Currently the game is not looking at the right spot for the mission name, and so all you get is the filename. To fix this, simply download TextTool (available with the BHD Mod tools) and create a new RC file. Then create a new group called "info". Within that group create a new stringID called "title" and "title" will contain the name of your file. Then go Save All, then Save BIN and place the bin file in the directory with your NPJ. All should work well now.

(11) What team is described by what number?
Team 0 = Neutral, or no team
Team 1 = Joint Ops or Blue Team
Team 2 = Rebel or Red Team

(12) What are the default AIP's for the vehicles?

"Drivable Dune Buggy" - default_aip d_buggy
"Flyable LITTLE BIRD with benches" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable LITTLE BIRD with miniguns" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable LITTLE BIRD with rocket pods" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Chinook" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Super Puma, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Drivable ATV" - default_aip d_buggy
"Drivable SUV with 50cal" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable SUV with MK19" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable Zodiac" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable Zodiac w/ m60" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable Transport Truck" - default_aip d_5ton
"Drivable Transport Truck with armory" - default_aip d_5ton
"Drivable LCAC" - default_aip d_lcac
"Drivable Attack Vehicle with 50cal" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable Attack Vehicle with Mk19" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable Mark V" - default_aip d_lcac
"Drivable Indo Landing Craft" - default_aip d_lcac
"Drivable BTR-80, Indonesian" - default_aip d_5ton
"Drivable Stryker" - default_aip d_5ton
"Flyable Mil-26, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Nb0-105, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Nb0-105 with miniguns, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Nb0-105 with rocketpods, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Drivable Indonesian Assault Boat" - default_aip d_lcac
"Flyable Blackhawk" - default_aip H_BHawk
"Drivable civilian boat #1" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable civilian boat #2" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable civilian boat #3" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable civilian boat #4" - default_aip d_zode

(13) What is my Resource Directory? What directory should I choose?
The Resource Directory for NILE is the directory that contains all the assets and game information. In this case it would be the Joint Ops game folder (for example: C:\Program Files\Novalogic\Joint Operations Typhoon Rising)

If a vehicle is driven away from its initial spawn point and is then blown up, it will wait a set period of time and then respawn at its initial position. If a player leaves a vehicle and there is no one within a specific radius of it, it will then blow up and respawn.

You can make vehicles progress with you in AAS when you take over LFPs. This means that if you take over an LFP that is configured for Forward Vehicle Spawning, then the next time specifically tagged vehicles blow up and respawn, they will respawn not at their default location, but at the forward most applicable LFP.

To set this up you must determine which vehicles you want to advance with you throughout the map.

Choose an LFP and place down appropriate SPAWN Markers found in the markers section, either Air Spawn Marker, Ground Spawn Marker, or Water Spawn Marker. There is a marker for the main types of vehicles. Place down the type of marker corresponding to the vehicle type that you want to spawn there.

Open the markers Item Attributes and set it to the LFP group of the LFP you want it associated with.

Now select the vehicles, say on the JO side, that you want to spawn forward and spawn at this marker. Say you put down an Airspawn Marker for the Blackhawk/Super Puma. Then select any number of Blackhawks that belong to the JO side and set their Spawn Budget to 1. Do the same thing with the pumas, but put them to 2. 1 = JO vehicles. 2 = Rebel vehicles.

Now when these vehicles, flagged as 1, blow up, they will try to respawn at the spawn marker of the forward most LFP. If there is already a vehicle there, then they will spawn at the marker with the next closest LFP. If there are no markers available for it to spawn at, it will wait until one of the vehicles has moved from its spawn location and then it will spawn there.

If you want vehicles at the rear base to wait in a queue like this then make sure that the markers you put down at the rear base are tied to the last LFP on that side.

When you control an LFP, your vehicles will spawn there. If you are JO and control LFP 1, and there is a BH/SuperPuma marker tied to LFP1, then your blackhawks named 1 will spawn at LFP 1. If the enemy takes over 1 and have Pumas set to 2, then those pumas will spawn at 2.

Note: Vehicles that have been assigned to a spawn budget will only spawn at marker locations.

Also You can create a continuos flow of vehicles by having more vehicles than spawn locations. Just put the rest of the vehicles out in the middle of nowhere and kill them all on start up, or don't kill them and they will blow up nonetheless.

MAX:
Waypoint Lists : 128
Triggers: 128
Organics: 256
Vehicles, emplaced weapons, and some dynamic items: 1200
Decorations, buildings, foliage: 1200
Markers: 768

Q: How do I go about keeping the grass from the terrain coming through the first floor of the buildings that I place down? I have placed buildings and also used the terrain align button but that does not seem to help.

A: No, just place tiles under your buildings, that will remove the grass that’s sticks to your buildings floors...But, from what I understand of it, it doesn't work with all terrains, since difference grass types are used on the different terrains, and not all grass is covered when u place tiles on it...

When you edit something there’s six boxes for its position in the world
X = North /South
Y = Elevation (its Not Z like in DF Meds)
Z = East /West
Phi = Pitch
Theta = Heading
Omega = Roll

***if you place a item and you cant move it
highlight it and click edit
then click ok to get out of the edit screen
You can move it now
a bug we can work around

***Is there a maximum number of objects that NILE / JO can handle?
I read you can have 1198 buildings, 254 people and I forget the number of vehicles.

***Ok, found how to set their AI. its not easy
Objects as defined (that long list of everything you've added)...hit Edit and you can set them as active, then there is a long pull up menu of AI to choose from and more.

I had just edited 90 objects and the program pulled a fatal error, so everything I did for 30 minutes was lost...so I’m trying again!

edit the KOTH Center object and increase the setting (I think it's "range") from 0.000 to 20

***First off there is only 4 terrain files 0,1,2,3 actually that’s just a bug making duplicate listings in NILE, I looked in the PFF's and there is only 4. I found out how to make it pitch black inside all the buildings and make the moon disappear but it don’t darken the map itself. just put in the WAC

If past(2) then
sun(r,g,b) "use 0,0,0 to make black"
moon(r,g,b)
sky(r,g,b)
ground(r,g,b)
floor(r,g,b)
ceiling(r,g,b)
endif

I’ve been trying different methods and commands to darken the landscape. far as I can tell only thing to do is use TOD of 0000 to 0159 and don’t have it adv TOD. But I do notice that if your Gamma is too high everything will be bright and very far from nighttime. I know this because I never used NV ever because I always have my gamma up. there has to be a command to change that its supposed to be gain(r,g,b) but it doesn't do anything. Still hunting for the solution

Well I think I found the problem out why we cant make Night maps, like 'pitch black' JO has a auto brightness gain, I made a map with the insides of the buildings real dark (as compared to outside) you look at the buildings from outside its dark as crap inside it, but as you come inside the building the brightness inside increases and so does the brightness outside (i.e. like your how your eyes adjust IRL) and when you get out of the building the outside goes back to before and so does the darkness in the buildings also. Check it out yourself put this in a WAC game map with buildings and see if you see what I do.

if past(5) and never() then
sun(0,0,0)
moon(0,0,0)
ground(2,2,2)
floor(2,2,2)
ceiling(4,4,4)
endif

Now the moon is gone at night with them settings but this isn’t the full effect of what we want either. But it’s closer at least.

***How do I add Lightning?
That’s a WAC file command line you need to setup, and I have yet to see a file/text that tells us the exact WAC syntax's. Some might be the same from BHD some I have seen posted aren’t. You might want to try the BHD WAC code and it is. Here is a sample WAC file I just used and is pretty sweet. Might want to increase the #'s a little, but it works

That will cause lighting up close if random == 15 and farflash's if random == 7 pretty simple. Thunder is included in 'flash' there is also earthquakes also.

I just cut and pasted his code right into the .WAC file for my map, took 2 seconds. If you don't have a .wac file for your map, just create a text file, paste in the above code, and then save it as 'mapname.wac', and then test it out.

I just looked around on DFBarracks.com and found a list of all the WAC commands (I'm gonna post it in a minute) apparently you can include rain, lightning (not just the flash), and an earth quake, among other things.

***Not that I like to advertise other sites, but people (like me) who have a hard time with .WACs should read this tutorial.

***Kilgore-SOLO- posted a cool lightning effect in another thread using WAC Commands.
After a little looking I found a list that is apparently imbedded in localres.pff. This was posted on DFBarracks.com by Eagle_Eye. Here is a cut and paste:

***once the Nile editor is up and running fully i will be releasing another WAC tutorial for joint ops but until the events are working in Nile I cant fully test them all. And yes this is the same chrislew200 from dfbarracks.

***One of the most useful features of NILE is use of player profiles.
When playing you map in JO with profiling turned on ("D:\Program Files\Nova Logic\Joint Operations Typhoon Rising\JOINTOPS.EXE" /profile name) it records the movements of everyone on the map which you can then load into NILE and see everyone's move actions.

While profiling a new map, I'll run a dune buggy and map out the best & safest routes. Then in NILE I'll tile out a road/tire tracks following the profile path.

Another thing its great for is defining flat areas for putting trees. When I find a suitable flat area for putting trees, I'll run around the outside perimeter a couple of times. When the profile is loaded in NILE, I'll set the trees (or bushes/buildings/whatever) inside the perimeter loops.

And if I find a trouble spot in my map, I'll run back and forth and make a large 'X' pattern at or near the problem spot, so it will be easy to find and fix in NILE.

***I made these maps with 0.48 now after almost being done when I go to reload it and edit more.
I get the error 'some blocks in file were not processed. Please check installation before editing.' also my 3-d instantly bombs out when I try to view anything 3-d on these maps. I can go to 3-d with an empty terrain map but just not when I load these ones.

If you have these in your map, you can use it in 2D but soon as you switch to 3D it will cause the crash. Also that error started for me after I deleted a" start player".

Yeah we worked on it and found a way to stop it, just 'hide' them and its fixed, temporarily at least.

Use the + and - keys on the NumPad + Higher - Lower use ctrl button with + and - to go up and down in bigger steps.

Now's a good time to explain the difference between NILE features and data files / mods:

NILE is the tool you will use to generate missions using whatever data is available to it. Updates to NILE will improve the interface and expose features that are supported by the game engine.

By definition, new objects and terrains are not part of NILE, they are part of the PFF resource that you point to when you start using the editor.

So what you are really asking for is for Novalogic to produce a 'data-pack' that contains all these old DF1 objects and terrains converted and remodelled to the new JO file formats. And anyone wanting to play your missions would also have to install the data pack in order to have the correct data files for the terrains, objects etc. And I assume you want this for free also?

When using the rotate tool and Nile is in Group Rotate, the control modifier rotation (Y) does not work properly.

Left and Right arrow keys do not work and they do not work with control either when group rotate is enabled.

When group rotate is enabled, both Control and Shift modifiers do not work correctly, they rotate the object in 2 dimensions at same time.

When navigating in 3d mode, nile does not detect mouse up outside of camera window.

Object population window is hidden by nile window&ldots; changing of focus issue.

In Object Population the Yaw, Pitch and Roll are called just that. Therefore, the Omega, Phi, Theta in item attributes should also be changed appropriately, to make sense to the end user.

If one sets up his windows to two windows, one on top, and one on the bottom. Then he goes into zoom view in one of the two windows, and then returns to non zoomed view, then the cameras have reset to four views as opposed to two.

When you select a new tile, it does not refresh the tile when you drag your mouse back out&ldots;. It only refreshes after you place the first new tile.

You should not be able to select objects with the 4 Tool when in tile mode. You should ONLY be able to select tiles.

You can place tiles in 3d mode, and any other mode, but if you want to select tiles or move them around, it has to be in color mode&ldots;

For those of you who are still level headed and want to continue to build maps using the BETA version of NILE. Here is a work around for laying a tile/ tiles without it crashing the program.

Goto 2D then select required tile press insert
Lay tiles as many times as is needed
If laying an excessive amount of 1 tile type save it say every 20 or 30 tiles
Once you complete laying the tiles select insert again
Then save
select objects
Then save again
(Repeat the process as required)

Not ideal for everyone but it does work on XP prof. Saving takes 1 sec. Its just a work around to prevent crashing.

When you hit space to move map in 2d mode then release space before releasing the Left Click, you get some weird box artifact on your screen.

If you do a MOVE tool, and change the altitude of an object by holding the shift key, and accidentally move your mouse outside of the map area, and then release your mouse click and the shift button, then when you move your mouse back into the map view area, you will move your object around. This is because it did not detect the MOUSE UP event.

When any character is typed inside the Object Palette text filter, any item containing the “filtered” text becomes bold – FINE. However, after deleting/clearing the prior search field, all items in the Object List become bold. Items in the Object List should not be bold if no text is in the text filter field.

FULL_00.ENV	FULL_03.ENV
FULL_01.ENV	Daytime.ENV
FULL_02.ENV

DVXC1.TRN	DVXG7.TRN	DVXI1_G.TRN
DVXC2.TRN	DVXG8.TRN	DVXI3.TRN
DVXC2A.TRN	DVXG8A.TRN	DVXI3A.TRN
DVXC2B.TRN	DVXG9.TRN	DVXI4.TRN
DVXG1.TRN	DVXI1.TRN	DVXI4_A.TRN
DVXG3.TRN	DVXI1_A.TRN	DVXI4_B.TRN
DVXG4.TRN	DVXI1_B.TRN	DVXI4_C.TRN
DVXG5.TRN	DVXI1_C.TRN	DVXI4_D.TRN
DVXG5B.TRN	DVXI1_D.TRN	DVXI5.TRN
DVXG6.TRN	DVXI1_E.TRN	FLAT.TRN