Fallout Tactics Save Editor

Kotor Save Game Editor. Select the save slot to edit and change (for example) a 9mm pistol to a gauss rifle. A couple years ago I wrote.

How to create custom PREFAB characters for Fallout Tactics By Armaani - armaankhan@hotmail.com

Introduction The Fallout Tactics editing tools include some fairly comprehensive documentation contained within the 'EDITOR_README.txt' file. It covers most aspects of campaign creation with enough detail that an intrepid user can no doubt craft the adventures of his dream. However, once this is done, you might want to create some custom prefab characters to include with your campaign. Part of the process is touched upon in the 'EDITOR_README.txt' file, but in order to properly create prefab characters, much more must be done. That is why I have written this tutorial.

In this tutorial, I assume several things:

• You have installed the Fallout Tactics 1.27 patch.
• You have unpacked all the '*.bos' files and have already created your custom campaign, including levels. All you have left is creating custom prefab characters. This means that you have read 'EDITOR_README.txt' at least once; you know how to use the Level and Campaign editors; and you are fairly comfortable rooting around in and modifying copies of the 'campaign.txt' file.
• You are keeping your custom campaign in a separate folder within the Fallout Tactics directory, and using the '-path' command line option to modify and play it. In this document, I use the folder 'MyPath'.
• You have Photoshop, or some other image editing program that can save '.PNG' files, and know how to use it.

Step 1: Before you Begin As a campaign/level designer, you already know that good planning is paramount to getting any project off the ground. Before you begin, you should have an idea of what type of character you will make, what his (or her) personality is like, and what statistics, tag skills, and traits he has. You should also have an image to use as a character portrait, and a small descriptive blurb about him, which will appear on the character selection screen.

Step 2: Prepare the Directory Tree I assume you are already keeping all your campaign files in a separate folder in your Fallout Tactics directory, and are using the '-path' command line option to access them.

Assuming your campaign folder is called 'MyPath', you will need the following subdirectories:

MyPath/gui MyPath/gui/char/ MyPath/gui/char/big MyPath/locale MyPath/locale/game MyPath/entities MyPath/entities/special MyPath/entities/special/prefab

This follows the exact directory tree that is found under the 'core' folder in the Fallout Tactics deirectoy. Keeping the same directory tree is important, as some files are required to be in specific locations.

Once the directories are created, you need to copy the 'characters.txt' file from 'core/locale/game' to 'MyPath/locale/game'. We will be editing this file later.

Step 3: Prepare Character Portraits Once the directory tree is in place, you need to prepare a couple of images to use as character portraits.

Start Photoshop, and open the image you intend to use as your character portrait. If the image is in colour, it needs to be converted into black and white. Do this by clicking 'Image>Mode>Grayscale' then clicking 'Image>Mode>RGB Colour'.

Once the image is in black and white, it needs to be cropped to the right size. Select the 'Crop' tool (Press 'C' on the keyboard). In the 'Options' window for the 'Crop' tool, select 'Fixed Target Size' and set the 'Width' and 'Height' fields to 300 and 300 respectively. Draw a bounding box around your character's face, and press the 'Enter' key to crop it. Save the resulting image as a PNG in the folder 'MyPath/gui/char/big'. I named my file 'MaxImage.PNG'. This file will be the large picture that you see on the Character Select screen when you start a new Fallout Tactics campaign, and must be in the 'MyPath/gui/char/big' folder in order to display properly.

Now, select the 'Crop' tool again, and change the 'Width' to 75 and 'Height' 100. Again, draw a bounding box and press 'Enter'. This image will be the small portrait that you see pretty much everywhere else in the game. Save the image as a PNG in the folder 'MyPath/gui/char'. Be sure to give it the EXACT SAME name as you did the last file (I named mine 'MaxImage.PNG'). You will end up with two files with the same name, one located in 'MyPath/gui/char' and one in 'MyPath/gui/char/big'. This means I have two files named 'MaxImage.PNG'.

The final step is to convert the two PNG files to ZAR file. Serial number for adobe after effects cc 2014. Start up the Fallout Tactics editor, and select Convert PNG to ZAR. Find the two PNGs you just saved, one at a time, and convert them to ZAR format. The ZARs will have the same name, but a different extension. My files are now called 'MaxImage.ZAR'.

Step 4: Create the Character Entity It is now time to create the entity that will go represent the character. Start up the Entity Editor, and click on 'File>New'. Select 'Actor' from the top of the list, and click 'OK'. Now click 'Make' at the top of the screen. Create your character just as you would normally, allocating a name, statistics, tag skills, and optional traits. You will notice that you can't select an image; this is normal, so don't worry since we'll be assigning an image in a bit. Once the character is ready, click 'OK' to return to the entity editor. You can level up your character if you want by clicking 'Level' at the top of the screen.

Now that the chracter is created, we need to assign him his image. On the left side of the screen, under '~Actor~', you will see a button labeled 'Name'. Click on it, and a number of fields will drop down. The first field is labeled 'Display Name'. In this field, type in the name of the ZAR image you converted in Step 3 above, without the extension. Thus, I have typed 'MaxImage' in the field. If you want to see the portrait, you can click 'Edit>Edit Character Stats/Trait.'.

Beneath 'Display Name', there is a field labeled 'customName'. In this field, you will see the name you assigned your character when you first made it. Delete this name, so that the field is empty. Don't worry, your character WILL get assigned a name, just not here. If there is anything in the 'customName' field, you won't be able to assign your prefab character a story.

All that's left is to save the entity. Click 'File>Save As', and save your entity into the 'MyPath/entities/special/prefab' folder. I saved my character as 'Max.ENT'.

Step 5: Edit 'campaign.txt' and 'characters.txt' A few more steps left. Exit the editor and find your custom campaign's 'campaign.txt' file. Since you've already created your campaign, I assume you know how this file works, and how it ties into your campaign. Open it up in any text editor, and scroll down to the very bottom, where you will see the section for listing prefab characters. Add your new entity into the list by following the format of the others. If you don't want the default prefabs to be available, you can delete those lines. You should have something like this:

prefabs={'entities/special/prefab/Max.ent',}

Save campaign.txt, and go into 'MyPath/locale/game'. In here you will find the copy of the 'characters.txt' file you made in Step 2. Open it and scroll down a little until you find the section named 'PREFABS - STARTING CHARACTERS'. You will see the five default prefabs (Mick, Snake, Peter, Betty, Wilma) listed there. Add your character to the list by following the format of the others:

name_DisplayName = {character name} desc_DisplayName = {character's story}

Where 'DisplayName' is replaced by the text you typed into the 'Display Name' field in the entity editor. Thus I would type:

name_MaxImage= {Max} desc_MaxImage= {Max's story}

Remember that you have limited space for your character's story, so be brief. It is extremely important that the word after 'name_' and 'desc_' be exactly the same as that you entered in the 'Display Name' field of the entity. Otherwise, the process will not work properly.

Also remember to leave the default prefab characters alone. If you delete them, it can produce strange results in the default campaign, but only if you start the default campaign while using the '-path' command line option. If you don't want the default prefabs to appear in your custom campaign, delete their references from the 'campaign.txt' file as explained above. Don't worry about your character appearing in the default campaign; he won't, unless to specifically import him into 'bos.cam' using the campaign editor.

Step 6: Update your campaign The final step is to bring your prefab character into your campaign. Start up the Fallout Tactics editor once more and go into the campaign editor. Open your custom campaign, and click 'Tools>Import Prefabs'. Find your 'campaign.txt' file, and click 'Open'. Once this is done, save your campaign.

You have now sucessfully created a custom prefab character, complete with large and small portraits and backstory. If you followed all the directions exactly, when next you start your custom campaign anew, you will see your prefab character appear in the character select screen.

I hope this helps. If anything is unclear, or you run into problems, feel free to email me.

Ciao. Armaani.

Right at the start, we recognized the importance of developing decent in-house tools and invested a substantial amount of time very early in the project to producing them.

Fallout Tactics Tools is the official editor for Fallout Tactics. The package includes some tools created by Micro Forte and used for development of the game. The package consists of Campaign Editor, Level Editor, Entity Editor and PNG-to-ZAR converter. It was included in 1.27 patch.

Level Editor

Level Editor is a powerful tool which allows to create fully playable maps for missions, bunkers and encounters from scratch. Starting with creating a terrain, placing tiles, light sources and world objects and ending with creating zones and events, placing characters, setting their behavior, speech, level, inventory etc.

Entity Editor

Entity Editor allows to create end edit all types of in-game entities such as characters, vehicles, items etc. Characters created with Entity Editor can later be modified in Level Editor - it is possible to change character level and inventory. This feature can be used to represent character's progress during the campaign.

PNG-to-ZAR converter

This tool can convert PNG images into in-game ZAR format. ZAR images are mostly used as elements of GUI and character portraits. It is possible to convert a single file or an entire folder with or without sub-folders.

Campaign Editor

Campaign Editor was the last tool to be developed. It is used for creating and editing of game campaign. It allows to create a world map, place missions and bunkers, set probabilities for random and special encounters as well as for landscape maps. It's also possible to import the list of prefab characters, recruiting pool, quartermasters and more.

External links

References

1. ↑GAMASUTRA: Postmortem: Micro Forte' s Fallout Tactics