TFTC Custom Missions
Introduction
The Emperor's Hammer (EH) has adopted the TIE Fighter Total Conversion (TFTC) mod for X-Wing Alliance (XWA) as a supported platform for custom EH missions. For the most part, the creation of missions is the same between XWA and TFTC but there are a few differences that will be identified below. Additionally, TFTC has built into it many hooks that have increased the things that can be done in missions and below will be a quick overview of some of them and how to implement them into a mission/battle. This entry is not expected to be a comprehensive guide to all the things that can be done in TFTC but just a documenting of the things that have been used in EH missions so far.
Differences in EH Battles between XWA and TFTC
The primary difference between XWA battle and TFTC battles in the EH is that a different battle and mission number is used for the first EH mission in TFTC than in XWA. For XWA EH battles are all Battle 8 and start and Mission 53. For TFTC EH has decided to start all battles at Battle 20 and Mission 100.
This, and other reasons, make it so that all TFTC missions will be installed manually via the zip files rather than using the Emperor's Hammer Battle Launcher (EHBL). And all TFTC battles will need to include a blank pilot file enabled to start at mission 100. If you do not know how to make the needed pilot file, please contact the TAC Office and a file will be sent to you.
If, for your mission you will OVERWRITE any original game files, whether original or TFTC added, you MUST include clear and explicit instructions in your readme on what files the player will need to backup prior to installing your mission. You should take every care that, if possible, the modifications to the files are not such that it will break a player's game if they do not remember to restore their backups after completing your battle.
Advanced Features
Most of these advanced features will require your mission to have a configuration file to tell the hooks what you want done in the mission. To create the configuration file you need to have a file in the \Mission directory, along side the mission.tie file, that it the same file name as your mission but with a .ini file extension. So, for example, if my mission file is 1B20M1_AR1.tie then my configuration file will be 1B20M1_AR1.ini.
It is highly recommended to install the XWA Tools Package from the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project's website. These tools will enable you to do many things, not the least being able to create your own pilot files, look at and modify the craft .opt, look at and modify the .dat files and .cmb files in the game and many, many more things.
Activate Hanger Red Alert
Base XWA already had functionality to have the hanger danger alarms playing when you would board your mothership if it had taken hull damage in the mission. Now, through hooks, you can specify a mission begins with the hanger alarms blaring. This is a fun idea for missions where the player is scrambling to protect the ship that is already under attack. How you enable this is in the mission.ini file add a section that says:
[mission_tie]
IsRedAlertEnabled = 1
Control the Background Planet in the Concourse
To be able to control what planet, or other image to be shown in the Concourse window at the top of the screen so that the player has a greater sense of place in the battle. The author of this article strives to have the image in the concourse match the primary planet/backdrop of the initial region as much as possible to sell that the player is on the mothership in the initial region prior to going into the briefing. To change the backdrop shown in the window, first you should determine the backdrop you want to use. To do this use a .dat editor/explorer and look at the FRONTPLANET_TFTC.DAT in the \Resdata\ folder in the TFTC directory. There you will find the backdrop you want to use and make note of its ID.
Then, then in the mission.ini file add a section that says:
[concourse]
FrontPlanetIndex = 15014
FrontPlanetPositionX = 350
FrontPlanetPositionY = 85
Where the FrontPlanetIndex is the ID from the DAT file and the X and Y positions control where in the window the backdrop will be seen. You will likely need to do some trial and error to determine where you want each backdrop to be in the window.
Custom Backdrops
To be able to use the high definition backdrops included in TFTC, or to be able to use your own custom backdrops, you will need to enable it in the mission configuration file. At a minimum it is recommended to enable the built in HD backdrops by adding the following section to the mission.ini file:
[Resdata]
Resdata\PlanetTFTC.dat
But, if you would like you can also use this to add your own custom backdrops to a mission too. To do that first you will need to create a custom .dat file that contains your backdrops. A recommended
