Section 1: The MISSION.INI file
Section 2: DEPEND.DAT
Section 3: BUILD.DAT & VDEPEND.DAT
Section 4: GAMETEXT.TXT
-=- Intro -=-
This is a description of the elements in certain files in the 7th
Legion/Data directory, namely "mission.ini", "depend.dat", "build.dat",
"vdepend.dat" and "gametext.txt".
These files control much of the way the game is played, and by editing
them you can "bend the rules" so to speak. Some of this is a little
technical, but not too bad.
Just an idea for all you
I-gotta-make-a-perfect-addon-all-the-time-and-I-know-how-to-do-it-too
people: mission.ini is ideal for "mission packs", because all
information is right there...
Just figure out what maps are what, fiddle with start positions a bit,
and the briefing text is right there...
You can even change the goals/etc., perfect editor's material.
Anyway, here is everything you never wanted to know about the data
files...
-=- Section 1: The MISSION.INI file -=-
I'll describe each line in order here...
[GMission 1]
the mission number (goes from 1,2,3, etc. - duh!)
Map=0
the map (corresponds to mapo.000, mapo.001, etc.)
Difficulty=2
the difficulty, basically how hard it is to kill them and them to kill
you (0-10)
Terrain=0
block set (i.e. tiles), 0=desert, 1=winter, 2=grassland
StartCash=150000
how much cash everyone starts with
AIXtraCash=2000
computer gets this much extra in the beginning
AICheatCount=5
instantly build a couple tanks, etc., for defense
Brief1=Destroy them! Pulverize them!
Brief2=Turn them into floating pieces
Brief3=of scrap metal!
Brief4=But don't let it happen to you...
the description of the mission that shows up (I modified this a bit:))
HowToWin=3 ;0=credits, 1=destroyv, 2=destroyb, [3]=destroyvb
how you win... 0=getting credits, 1=destroying vehicles, 2=destroying
bases,
3=destroying everything, 4=repairing (??)
StartX1=84
StartY1=74
StartX2=84
StartY2=74
StartX3=84
StartY3=74
StartX4=84
StartY4=74
4 start locations, randomly picks one - in most single player missions
they are all the same
NumAIs=2
number of computer players, or bases, from 1-3
TechLevel=1 ;power,mine,ref,barr - inf,mgun
technology level, from 0-9. 0=power plants & barracks, 6=have
everything to robot
hangar & first 3 robots, 9=mines, super lasers, build all robots,
everything, other
numbers in between
PVStart=0000000000000004000000000000000000000000001
see below
PAStart=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
see below
------------ PVStart specs --------------
This is what most people seem to be interested in... Hmm... Okay, both
PAStart and PVStart
are the same, these are the specs...
There are 43 "bits" in the string, each with the number of each
vehicle to start out with. 0=none, 1=one, etc.--- duh.
I hope it's obvious you can't have more than 9 of each unit :).
I've listed what bit it is, shown what it would look like if you had
just one of those units, and to the right what the name is and
what type of vehicle it is.
"Bit 1" (1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Ore Carrier
"Bit 2" (0100000000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Ore Truck
"Bit 3" (0010000000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Crusader
(7th tank)
"Bit 4" (0001000000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Oppressor
(Chosen tank)
"Bit 5" (0000100000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Crucifier
(7th tank)
"Bit 6" (0000010000000000000000000000000000000000000) - APC
(7th tank)
"Bit 7" (0000001000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Faith Hammer
(7th tank)
"Bit 8" (0000000100000000000000000000000000000000000) - Crucifier
(7th tank)
"Bit 9" (0000000010000000000000000000000000000000000) - Annihilator
(Chosen tank)
"Bit 10" (0000000001000000000000000000000000000000000) - Purifier
(7th tank)
"Bit 11" (0000000000100000000000000000000000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 12" (0000000000010000000000000000000000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 13" (0000000000001000000000000000000000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 14" (0000000000000100000000000000000000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 15" (0000000000000010000000000000000000000000000) - Machine Gunner
(7th unit) *
"Bit 16" (0000000000000001000000000000000000000000000) - Machine Gunner
(7th unit) *
"Bit 17" (0000000000000000100000000000000000000000000) - Mortar Unit
(7th unit)
"Bit 18" (0000000000000000010000000000000000000000000) - Priest
(7th unit)
"Bit 19" (0000000000000000001000000000000000000000000) - Medic
(7th unit)
"Bit 20" (0000000000000000000100000000000000000000000) - Slaven Rider
(7th unit)
"Bit 21" (0000000000000000000010000000000000000000000) - Marine
(7th unit) **
"Bit 22" (0000000000000000000001000000000000000000000) - Commander
(7th unit)
"Bit 23" (0000000000000000000000100000000000000000000) - Air Transport
(air unit)
"Bit 24" (0000000000000000000000010000000000000000000) - Sparrow
(air unit)
"Bit 25" (0000000000000000000000001000000000000000000) - Eagle
(air unit)
"Bit 26" (0000000000000000000000000100000000000000000) - Hovercraft
(air unit)
"Bit 27" (0000000000000000000000000010000000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 28" (0000000000000000000000000001000000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 29" (0000000000000000000000000000100000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 30" (0000000000000000000000000000010000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 31" (0000000000000000000000000000001000000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 32" (0000000000000000000000000000000100000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 33" (0000000000000000000000000000000010000000000) - blows up??
"Bit 34" (0000000000000000000000000000000001000000000) - Inquisitor
(7th mech) ***
"Bit 35" (0000000000000000000000000000000000100000000) - Revelator
(7th mech)
"Bit 36" (0000000000000000000000000000000000010000000) - Light Mech
(7th mech) ***
"Bit 37" (0000000000000000000000000000000000001000000) - Nova
(7th mech)
"Bit 38" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000100000) - Pyroclast
(Chosen mech) $
"Bit 39" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000010000) - Redeemer
(7th mech)
"Bit 40" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000001000) - blows up??
"Bit 41" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000000100) - blows up??
"Bit 42" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000000010) - blows up??
"Bit 43" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001) - Base (aka
Mobile Construction Vehicle)
------------ Comments on start units -------------
[*] Both machine gunners are called "Machine Gunner" and look exactly
alike,
but the second one has 3x much health or whatever.
[**] Maybe it's a bug, but the Marine is COMPLETELY INVISIBLE.
Right-click on some unit just standing there to see where he is,
then mark him so you'll be able to tell where he is. Maybe
good for sneaking up on enemies?
[***] Both these mechs look exactly the same, I think the light mech has
less armor/power.
[$] The Pyroclast seems to crash the game when used to attack a base,
but is fine when attacking units. Another bug? Oh, and the Pyroclast
looks very similar to the Spider.
One annoyance is that many of the units seem to "blow up" immediately
when the game starts.
Perhaps they have a dependence on something else? Or maybe I should buy
the registered version :).
Another problem is that I can't move most of the air units... I can only
move Air Carrier, and it won't do anything anyway. Oh well.
If you have any info on some of the ones I can't figure out (because I
can't get a look at them :)) please e-mail me (at bottom of file).
-------------- How to use the PVStart chart -----------------
All right... Let's use the first mission as a guide.
Here's the original version:
PVStart=0000000000000040000000000000000000000000001
If we look at our chart, we see this is:
"Bit 15" (0000000000000040000000000000000000000000000) - Machine Gunner
+
"Bit 43" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001) - Base
Or, 4 machine gunners and 1 base.
Let's spice things up. How about 4 Novas (gotta love those rapid-fire
missiles), 3 Faith Hammers (best tanks around in my opinion) and
2 Pyroclasts (for good measure).
And let's throw in 8 Slaven Riders. Add up the bit fields:
"Bit 7" (0000003000000000000000000000000000000000000) - Faith Hammer
"Bit 20" (0000000000000000000800000000000000000000000) - Slaven Rider
"Bit 37" (0000000000000000000000000000000000004000000) - Nova
"Bit 38" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000200000) - Pyroclast
"Bit 43" (0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001) - Base
so PVStart=0000003000000000000800000000000000004200001
Don't forget that base, you won't last long without it :).
--------- MMission -----------
You can also edit the MMission parts, which are the multiplayer
missions, but I would not recommend it. Not having played online I don't
know exactly how this works, but my guess is that if you edit these and
join a game where it is still in original form, things will not go well
with you...
If you are the server, it may or may not work... Like I said, I don't
know how 7th Legion deals with this.
---------- BMission -----------
Don't forget BMission! This is EXACTLY the same as GMission, except
GMission=7th Legion
missions and BMission=Chosen missions. Got it? G=Good, B=Bad :-).
-=- Section 2: DEPEND.DAT -=-
This gets a little more complex, or at least cryptic... But not
to hard to figure out once you get used to it...
Just read the first line:
bt_base=bt_power
Means:
"To build a power plant, you need a base"
Look a little lower where it says:
bt_power=bt_mine,bt_refinery,bt_barracks,bt_wall
Means:
"To build a mine, refinery, barracks, or wall, you need a power plant"
What use is this file? Well, if you want (or need :)) to get some of
these things sooner, try changing the first line to:
bt_base=bt_power,bt_robot
Now you can build a robot hangar without spending 11500 credits to build
a barracks & vehicle factory!
Here is a list of the names and their equivalents:
bt_base - duh
bt_power - Power Plant
bt_mine - Mine (duh again)
bt_refinery - Refinery
bt_barracks - Barracks
bt_wall - Wall
bt_radar - Radar thingy
bt_tank - Vehicle Factory
bt_gun - Defense Gun
bt_hospital - Hospital
bt_randd - High Tech Lab (I assume randd = research & development)
bt_repair - Repair Bay
bt_robot - Robot Hangar
bt_bmine - Big Mine :)
bt_supergun - um... "Super Gun" (laser gun)
bt_naval - Naval thingy
bt_air - Air thingy
bt_power2 - More power plant
bt_advcomms - Advanced Communications
bt_chem - Chemical plant
bt_silo - Silo
bt_shield - Shield thingy
bt_pad - Pad thingy
NOTE: Unfortunately I don't have the registered version yet, so maybe
someone could fill me in as to what some of the names are...
I'm just guessing on those last few...
-=- Section 3: BUILD.DAT & VDEPEND.DAT-=-
Now this is REALLY interesting... Take a look at the 5th line:
bt_robot=vt_mech1,vt_mech1c,vt_lmech,vt_mmech,vt_spmech,vt_amech
Hmmm... So you need a Robot Hangar to make these mechs, eh? Well, let's
try adding something..
After the second line, stick this in:
bt_barracks=vt_mech1,vt_mech1c,vt_lmech,vt_mmech,vt_spmech,vt_amech
Now, we SHOULD be able to build some robots with barracks... Let's
try...
VDEPEND.DAT file.
Let's take a look at line 5:
bt_robot=vt_mech1,vt_mech1c,vt_lmech,vt_mmech,vt_spmech,vt_amech
What the heck?!? It looks like just like BUILD.DAT! Well, I'll tell you
what's going on.
You see, just like DEPEND lists dependencies on structures, VDEPEND
lists dependecies on units (or "vehicles", hence the V).
So, BUILD tells us we can build a robot with a barracks,
but NOT UNTIL we have built a robot hangar...
So, let's try something... Add the line we made earlier
bt_barracks=vt_mech1,vt_mech1c,vt_lmech,vt_mmech,vt_spmech,vt_amech
into the VDEPEND.DAT file.
YES! It works! The moral of this story is, always make changes in BOTH
vdepend.dat & build.dat.
Another (easier) way is to change every line in VDEPEND.DAT by changing
whatever is on the left (bt_robot in our example) to bt_base.
That way the only restrictions are in BUILD.BAT.
You'll also notice you can build a whole lot more with a barracks than
you thought... :).
You can get the list of bt_ things from above, but I'm not sure about
the vt_items... Some of them are obvious (vt_medic), others you can guess
(vt_bazooka might be mortar guy?), but others are completely arbitrary
(vt_mech1c?!?). I suppose just copy whole lines, it doesn't matter much,
just experiment. Do some of the work yourself :).
-=- Section 4: GAMETEXT.TXT -=-
This is not really useful, but it's funny... This file has all the text
messages used in the game, including the menus...
If you have a file called JIVTEXT.TXT, copy it over GAMETEXT.TXT (after
making a copy, of course).
Now all of the menus and text should be "Jive talk" - Try it out :).
Aside: All you C programmers out there should recognize the text as
printf() format, this would be an easy way to crash the game
(changing a %s to %d). Not that it doesn't crash enough already... :-)"