Emergency4 Editor Manual

Emergency 4 – editor manual

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EMERGENCY 4-Editor

MANUAL

1. Creating a new Mod.............................................................................................................3

2. Editing of 3D-Objects ..........................................................................................................3

3. Edit the terrain....................................................................................................................4

3.1. Loading ground textures.............................................................................................4 3.2. Editing terrain height...................................................................................................7

4. Editing the scene...............................................................................................................11

4.1. Basic functions: ........................................................................................................11 4.2. Prototypes .................................................................................................................11 4.3. Hide/Show-function...................................................................................................15

5. Detail Polygons .................................................................................................................17

6. Decals................................................................................................................................19

7. Paths .................................................................................................................................21

8. Streets...............................................................................................................................23

9. Spawn points.....................................................................................................................25

10. Map-Properties..............................................................................................................26

10.1. Entry and exit points .................................................................................................26 10.2. Lev el boundaries.......................................................................................................27 10.3. Trav el map.................................................................................................................27 10.4. Mission scoring table and budget.............................................................................27 10.5. Camera positions ......................................................................................................27

11. Water bodies .................................................................................................................27

12. Virtual objects ...............................................................................................................29

13. Waiting points ...............................................................................................................31

13.1. Typ „(T)FMB-Landestage“.........................................................................................32


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14. Bridge install points ......................................................................................................34

15. Stopping points .............................................................................................................35

16. Ambient sounds ............................................................................................................36

17. Trigger...........................................................................................................................36

18. Additional fire objects ...................................................................................................37

19. Mission conditions........................................................................................................38

20. Materials........................................................................................................................40

21. Loading and sav ing maps .............................................................................................42

22. Creating the radar map..................................................................................................43


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1. Creating a new Mod In order to build your own new mission, you need to create a new Mod at first. After you started the editor choose „Modifications“ at the menubar. There you click on “Create a new mod …” item, in order to make your new Mod.

Pic. 1 All changes, which are done for this Mod, will be automaticly available in the new defined Mod-Folder. You will find it inside your game directory in the subfolder “Mods”. The name of your Mod you can enter in the following dialog. After you have done this, you can load your Mod, by clicking on the name of your Mod in menu entry “Modifications”. In the following “switch Mod” dialog click “yes” to confirm this change. Now you are ready to start modding your own mission. 2. Editing of 3D-Objects In EMERGENCY 4 all 3D-models of objects, houses, persons and vehicles are stored as binary data. That’s why it is needed, in order to edit a model, to convert its “v3o”-modelfile into ASCII-file. For doing this you use the function “unpack file …” (as shown in pic. 1) in the “Modifications”-menu. In the following dialog you point on the model file, which you want to convert. After this the unpacked file overwrites the binary file, so it keeps the same file name. Now you can edit this file with a text editor. When you finished, this file now needs to be packed again into binary file format.


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For this you use the function “pack file…” (as shown in pic. 1) in the “Modifications” menu. In this dialog you choose the ACSII model file you want to pack into binary file. The packed file overwrites the ASCII file. 3. Edit the terrain 3.1. Loading ground textures There are 2 possibilities to use terrain textures, at first you can load your own textures or you can reuse existing terrain textures.

3.1.1. Using existing terrain textures Under „Edit / Terrain“ (function key F2) you can load existing terrain textures, as described in the following steps. � Floor / Load texture (as shown in pic. 3.1.1) � right: doubleclick on „maps“ � left: i.e. select „m01.eft“ � click „OK“


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pic. 3.1.1

3.1.2. Loading your own terrain texture For creating our own texture maps use image editing software of your choice. In order to import this texture into the editor you have to watch the following conditions. � The size of the texture must be a multiply of 512 pixel in width and height � The texture must be stored as a 24 bit TGA file � The texture can’t be larger than 8192 x 9192 pixel � scale: 1 meter is equal to 12,5 Pixel. According to this the maximum width or

height can be 655,36m. Your own created terrain texture can be imported by entering the „Edit / Terrain“-Mode (function key F2): � choose „Floor“ -> „Import texture“ � right: choose the directory, in which you stored your TGA-Texture � left: select your TGA-file, i.e. „example.tga“ � click „OK“ (as shown in pic. 3.1.2a)


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Abb. 3.1.2a � after this choose the folder and file name of the converted EFT texture file,

which the importer will create. (EFT = EMERGENCY-Floor-Texture) i.e. „Maps/test“

� click „OK“ (as shown in pic. 3.1.2b)


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pic. 3.1.2b The new terrain texture is now saved as „Maps/test.eft“. Inside the editor the imported texture will be, for technical reasons, displayed as tiled images and aligned in the center of the whole available map space.

3.2. Editing terrain height The elevation of the map can be painted in image editing software as a black and white height map. You can see the actual height map in editor under „Edit“ � “Terrain” (function key F12). The wireframe mode (shortcut F11) can be helpful to adjust the height of the terrain. (as shown in pic. 3.2)


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pic. 3.2

3.2.1. Terrain-Brushes With the terrain brush you can paint several altitudes on the terrain, while left mouse is pressed. The button “Raise” increases the altitude of the terrain, while the button “Lower” decreases the altitude of the terrain. The function “set” is used to adjust the terrain at an exact level. With a right mouse click on certain point on the terrain, you can set the value to its altitude. The button “Soften” is finally used to smooth the terrain. It is equal to a blur filter. It removes hard edges and softens the terrain. The power, size and shape of the brush can be adjusted in the terrain window for each function. (as shown in pic. 3.2.1)


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pic. 3.2.1

3.2.2. Editing masks With the „Edit Masks“ – Mode you are able to create masks, which can exclude several areas from being effected from a terrain brush or you can exclusively edit only a masked area, the rest of the terrain stay untouched. (as shown in pic. 3.2.2.) After you created a new mask, you need to deactivate the “Edit mask” mode in order to continue editing the terrain altitudes.


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pic. 3.2.2


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4. Editing the scene In „Scene“-Modus (funktion key F1) you place all available objects into your map. Also you can edit in this mode prototype settings and instance settings of an object. If you press F1 again the Prototype window will disappear. Keep in mind: only in this mode you are able to copy and paste objects with “Crtl +C” and “Crtl + V”. (as shown in pic. 4.2.b)

4.1. Basic functions: Selecting objects and moving the camera work similar like inside the game. In addition to normal game view you can use a „free flycam“ mode, which you can activate and deactivate with the “Pause”-key. In “free fly” mode you can navigate with the arrow keys and the mouse free in space. With a left mouse button you can select, place or move objects. In order to raise or lower objects along its Z-axis you press left mouse button while holding “ALT” key. Keep in mind that this function depends on the selected “placement”-option in the prototype settings. The right mouse button rotates objects around its local Z-axis. Right mouse button in combination with pressing “SHIFT”-key or “Crtl”-key rotates an object around the world X or world Y axis.

4.2. Prototypes The so called „Prototypes“ are separated into classes like „Objects, „Vehicles“, „Persons“ and „Houses“ and further on into several „Groups“. In each prototype are all settings and object properties stored or predefined which can be set for any object/house/vehicle/person. Every object/house/person/vehicle that is placed into the scene, receives automatically those predefined properties. By pressing the button “edit” you can change the properties of the selected item. A better variant edit a prototype is to duplicate it by using the “clone” button, it copies all settings into a new prototype and keeps the original prototype in its original state. (as shown in pic. 4.2.a)


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When a property for a prototype is changed, it will be used on all items of this prototype inside your scene. Keep in mind: changing prototype settings is map independent, it affects all scene which use this prototype. That’s why edit prototypes carefully!

pic. 4.2a


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Some predefined settings of an object can be overwritten by individual settings which are available for each single object. For changing this properties select an object press the “Properties”-Button in lower button bar. (as shown in pic. 4.2.b) These changes are only valid for the selected object in your scene. These instance properties are stored into your map. Some properties can be only activated inside those instance properties. (i.e. paths for persons, as described in Chapter 7. Paths)

pic. 4.2b

4.2.1. Edit - Physics When you open the properties dialog of a prototype you find at first the button “Edit Physics”. It opens the physics-editor which is used to set up the physics geometry of each prototype. The created object specific geometry is used, if the checkbox “Always use physics geometry” is activated. If this checkbox is deactivated the mesh structure of the object will be used. (as shown in pic. 4.2.1.) The physics geometry will be also used for the routefinder (vehicles and persons) as barricade object, if the checkbox “router collision” is active. Shift, Crtl, Alt and space combined with the left or right mouse buttons are used to edit these geometries for an object inside the preview window.


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pic. 4.2.1

4.2.2. Edit - Children To every prototype you can attach additional objects (children), these objects can be separately activated or deactivated for each object inside the instance properties dialog. Children are used to bring visual diversity into objects of the same prototype which are placed in your scene, without replacing the whole prototype. Inside the „edit“-dialog press the „edit children“ button to open the children editor. Openhouses (inside the game: walk able houses with interior ) and vehicles own advanced children edit dialogs for adjusting doors, wheels, jump pads, roofs or interior.

4.2.3. Edit fireobjects Each prototype that is supposed to burn possesses its own fire editing object. This is available under “Edit / Edit Fire Objects”. Material, burn marks and fire effects of the prototypes can be edited here (refer to Fig. 4.2.3). The radius of the radiation (range of the energy radiation) can be modified by keeping the right mouse button pressed


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and Shift + right mouse button modifies the source of the fire (the fire at the core is the hottest). “Small Effects” are displayed, when the fire erupts and “Large Effects” at the stage, when the fire is at its peak.

pic. 4.2.3

4.2.4. Edit lights Each Prototype can be assigned lights in various forms, colours, intensities, etc. using the “Edit / Edit Lights” function. These lights can be switched on or off separately in the instance properties.

4.3. Hide/Show-function A lot of additional information or several object categories can be additionally displayed or hidden using the Hide/Show function on the left bottom screen edge.


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pic. 4.3


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5. Detail Polygons Various areas of the Terrain can be loaded with additional textures in the “DetailPolygon” mode (Shift + F4 function key). These additional textures are in greater detail than the normal terrain textures (refer to Fig. 5). These detailed textures may overlap. Self-created textures for this may have alpha channels (these are available in the “Textures\Detailpoly\” directory). The following Blend-modes exist:

• The “Blend” mode sets the selected texture with a simple alpha-channel (border) on the terrain texture

• The “Modulate” mode darkens the terrain texture with the selected texture • The “Detail“ mode darkens all colour values below 127 and lightens all those

above 127 Closed polygons always describe an area (“Closed” Type), while the open ones describe a line path (“Open” Type).


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pic. 5


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6. Decals Decals are textures, which can be planar placed on the terrain. Because of their higher image resolution, compared to the terrain texture, they are used as flat graphical objects, like street marks or man hole covers or other purposes on the terrain. The decal dialog show in its right list all available decal textures. (refer to figure 6), while the left list displays all already placed decals inside the scene. If you select a decal texture from the right list, you can place it into your map. Existing decals can be selected by left click on it. (red colored ) With the left mouse button the selected decal can be moved and with right mouse button rotated. Scaling of decal is possible be adjusting the “width” and “height” value inside the decal dialog. You can also add your own decal textures, by copying them into the subfolder „data\textures\decals\“ inside your game directory. All textures must be stored as DDS-file. You can also create new subfolders.


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pic. 6


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7. Paths Paths (F7 function key) are used as a rule for moving civilians and civilian vehicles. Passers-by and cars set in the Scene mode (refer to 2. Edit scene) can be assigned an already edited standard path under “Properties” (refer to Fig. 4.2b) / “Edit Traits” (refer to Fig. 7a).

pic. 7a If the path is of the “Forward” or “Backward” type, then the person walks or the car travels the defined path and is deleted at the end of the path. If it is set at “Loop” or “PingPong”, it moves in a circle or back and forth (refer to Fig. 7b) all the time. Normal speed for persons is between 1.7 and 2.0. Speed for cars should be between


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6 and 9. One must always walk/drive on the right side (blue line) of the path.

pic. 7b


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8. Streets Editing the streets in the “Streets” mode (Shift + F7 function key) is necessary for the route finder of the emergency vehicles. Wherever the vehicles are supposed to use streets, a street must be edited. The streets must always have a connected street network (refer to Fig. 8). Vehicles are always driven on the right side (blue lines) of the street as in case of paths.


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pic. 8


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9. Spawn points Spawn points (F9 function key) are present to help set persons or cars at fixed intervals on the paths. The person or car groups can be compiled for each spawn point and provided with a probability (refer to Fig. 9).

pic. 9


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10. Map-Properties Light effects, weather effects and camera start position can be determined in “Map properties” (Shift + F9 function key). Apart from that, other settings essential for a map are also considered here. These settings are described below (refer to Fig. 10).

pic. 10

10.1. Entry and exit points Entry and exit points for land, air and water vehicles are set under “Edit Entries/Exits” (refer Fig. 10).


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10.2. Level boundaries The level boundaries are set using the “Edit Boundaries” button (refer to Fig. 10). This can be enabled and disabled using “Map/Cam bounds” on the function bar on the bottom screen edge for testing the boundaries.

10.3. Travel map All practicable roads on the travel map can be edited under “Edit Ingame Map” (refer to Fig. 10).

10.4. Mission scoring table and budget The “Edit scoring table” button opens a table, in which the scores of the mission can be edited.

10.5. Camera positions Camera positions that can be included in “Camera Locations” are necessary exclusively for scripted cut-scenes. 11. Water bodies Water bodies that can be made to appear different depending on the selected Shader-Effect are available in the “Liquid” mode (F4 function key). The water bodies can be displayed with an incline. If however there are boats in a river or a lake, then that water body should always be at a level and should be provided with virtual objects that are set on “Shallow Water” or “Deep Water”.


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pics. 11


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12. Virtual objects Virtual objects (F5 function key) should be edited in the map, wherever areas are to be accessible only for selected moving prototypes (Vehicles, Persons, Animals, Ships, etc.). The Terrain property for each moving Prototype decides how fast it may or may not move on which areas (also refer to “Specs\terrain.xml“). Water and land should always be distinctly separated. Virtual objects can be laid on top of one another easily. Blocked terrain properties always have a priority in such a case. Persons and vehicles leave tracks in the areas labelled as “Leave Tracks” (refer to Fig. 12). The “Snow Effects” setting among other things is necessary for the rescue dogs. Virtual objects should never be shown across the map, but always be aligned optimally at the floor grid as per the areas.


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pic. 12


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13. Waiting points “Waiting points” (Shift+F3 function key) are exclusively used by “civilians set on the paths” (refer to 7). The only exception is the “TFMB Landing stage” and “FMB Landing stage” function type. Probability, duration, size, type and line of vision of the waiting zone can be set extra. If the waiting point is not on a path point, then the next path point is taken into consideration by the persons. The left mouse button determines the position, Alt + left mouse button determines the height, the right mouse button the size of the zone and Ctrl + right mouse button the direction. A green circle, the size of which can be modified using Shift + right mouse button, is also visible depending on the set function type.


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pic. 13

13.1. Typ „(T)FMB-Landestage“ The green circle of this function type determines that area of the TFMB (Fire extinguishing motor boat transport vehicle) and FMB (Fire extinguishing motor boat) on land or in water that can be clicked on. The centre of the landing area is exactly between the water and land in ideal cases. It should point to the water with an arrow and have a radius of approximately 300.


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pic. 13.1


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14. Bridge install points The “Bridge Install Points” (Shift+F3 function key) specifies the positions, where the FRGB can lay a bridge.

pic. 14


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15. Stopping points The “Stopping Points” (Shift+F8 function key) are determined exclusively for buses, taxis and halting cars. Here, the persons marked as “Bus user” or “Taxi user” can climb in or out of the vehicle in the instance properties under “Traits”. The “Trigger Area” should always be edited in such a manner that the vehicle paths run through it.

pic. 15


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16. Ambient sounds The “AmbientPolygons” (Shift+F5 function key) determine the background sound played in a defined area. 17. Trigger “Triggers” (F3 function key) are used exclusively to trigger script-controlled events. The points for the trigger area can be added, shifted or deleted by clicking on the left mouse button depending on the button selected in the “Polygon” window (refer to Fig. 17).

pic. 17


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18. Additional fire objects Additional burning objects can be set on the map under “Burning Objects” (F6 function key). If the burning objects edited for the objects in the prototypes are e.g. not sufficient to generate a desired course of fire, then the course of fire can be influenced with this burning object that can be freely placed.

pic. 18


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19. Mission conditions The following values that could be the positive or negative criteria for aborting the mission can be set under “Edit/Mission conditions”: Name (Script/Editor) Description Objects = Objects Persons = Total Persons Civils = Civil ians Squads = Emergency resources Drowning = Drowning persons Gangsters = Gangsters Animals = Animals Vehicles = Vehicles Squad Vehicles = Emergency vehicles Houses = Houses Burning Houses = Burning houses Burnt Houses = Burnt houses Burning Objects = Burning objects Burnt Objects = Burnt objects Burnt Vehicles = Exploded vehicles Injured Civils = Civil ians injured in the level Injured Squads = Emergency resources injured in the level Injured Gangsters = Gangsters injured in the level Injured Persons = Total persons injured in the level Dead Civils = Civil ians dead in the level Dead Squads = Emergency resources dead in the level Dead Gangsters = Gangsters dead in the level Dead Animals = Animals dead in the level Dead Persons = Total persons dead in the level Contaminated Civils = Contaminated civil ians Contaminated Squads = Contaminated emergency resources Contaminated Animals = Contaminated animals Contaminated Gangsters = Contaminated gangsters Contaminated Persons = Total persons contaminated Squad deaths = Total number of emergency resource deaths Civil deaths = Total number of civil ian deaths Animal deaths = Total number of animal deaths Gangster deaths = Total number of gangster deaths Person deaths = Total number of dead persons Squad injuries = Total emergency resources injured Civil injuries = Total civil ians injured Animal injuries = Total animals injured Gangster injuries = Total gangsters injured Person injuries = Total persons injured


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pic.19


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20. Materials The properties of the materials that can and must be assigned to each burning object (no object can ever burn without a material!) can be edited under “Edit” / “Materials”. The following parameters are available:

- Name: Name of the material - Combustion: Value that specifies how much energy a material has

before it burns. The higher the combustion, the later the object that possesses this material burns.

- BurnTime: Average duration in seconds of fire. The burning duration

can vary depending on whether e.g. the burning object is sprayed with quenching water in the meantime.

- MaxTemp: Maximum temperature that the burning object can reach

- ChargeTime: Time in seconds till an object that has started to burn

reaches its maximum temperature

- Cooling: Objects that have a cooling-value greater than zero cool down by this value if they receive (burning) energy externally. Example: Suppose there is a building right next to a small bush. The bush catches fire, however it does not generate enough energy for the building to go up in flames – the combustion of the building is too high. The building nevertheless receives energy. Now the bush stops burning, thus the building does not receive any more energy and it will automatically cool down if its burning objects are edited with a material that has a cooling-value greater than zero. An object with a cooling-value zero on the other hand does not cool down automatically; it “saves” the received energy

- Resistance: Energy resistance If an object e.g. has a material with a

resistance of 100 and another object that radiates a temperature of “only” 90 burns next to it, then it will not at all influence the object with 100-resistance – it is resistant.

- BlastForce: explosion power . If this value is greater than 0 than this

value determins the force, which the explosion at its center creates. Usaul values are between 30 for a small explosion and up to10000 for a heavy bomb explosion.

- BlastRadius: radius of the explosion. If this value is greater than 0 it sets the radius (in map units) which will be affected by this explosion.


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The blast force decreases expotencial inside this radius to its outer margin. Usual value are betwenn 250 Units and 2500 Units for heavy explosions.

- Explode: If this checkbox is activated the object which receives this material can explode. It will explode if the set combustion value is reached. If this checkbox is deactivated the object will start burning if its combustion value is reached.


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21. Loading and saving maps Both loading and saving of maps is available on the top menu bar in “Maps” (refer to Fig. 21). All map-specific data is filed in an e4m-file (EMERGENCY4-Map). The reference to the floor texture is also saved here, however not the texture view (also refer to 1. Edit Terrain)

pic. 21


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22. Creating the radar map The following is required: - Screenshot from the Editor - Image processing program The screenshots are prepared as follows:

1. Start Editor 2. Load Map 3. Hide/Show (left bottom):

• Set everything as “Hide” (except F1, F4 and Ceilings) • Switch off the lights (bottom centre) using “Lights Off”

4. “Shift” + “Enter” (to set the time as 12 hrs) 5. Edit -> “Map Properties” -> Light Texture: Set “Timegradient.tga”, set the

“Object Shadow Intensity” as 20 and the “Terrain Shadow Intensity” as 40. Click on OK.

6. Open the console (F10 function key), enter “set r_clipfar 99999” and confirm with the Enter key. Close the console again using F10.

7. Press “Pause” to reach the Freeflycam-mode and to bring the camera into correct position (far beyond the Map)

8. Prepare the screenshot (using the Print key) 9. Insert the screenshot in the image processing program 10. In the Editor, exit the Freefly-mode again using “Pause” 11. Open the console (F10 function key), enter “set r_clipfar 32000” and

confirm with the Enter key. Close the console again using F10. In the image processing program: The screenshot must first be adjusted perspectively from the top exactly as per the boundaries of the floor texture. This is normally done using a “Free transformation” function. The brightness/contrast of the screenshot must also be increased to +20 /+20 (these values must be adjusted slightly if necessary). The “Saturation” must then be set as –60. The result should more or less appear as follows:


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The texture should be scaled down maximum by dimensions of either 210 Pixel in width or 150 Pixel in height (proportions must be adhered to in this case). The “Sharpness” filter is then applied. The working area of the image (with black 0/0/0 as the background colour) must then be set as 210 x 150 with the anchor at the centre. Black horizontal or vertical stripes emerge at the margins. The working area of the image should now be increased again to 256 x 256 Pixel with the anchor at the top left side. The result thus appears as follows:

The image is now saved in the DXT1 DDS-format (without Alpha/ without MIPmaps) and is filed in the directory of the relevant E4M-file. The file name should be the same as the map name.


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YOU CAN OBTAIN FURTHER ASSISTANCE AS REGARDS EDITOR ON OUR FORUM http://www.emergency4.de Have fun with the Modes! ©2006 Promotion Software GmbH. All rights reserved. TAKE 2, the TAKE 2 logo, the A TAKE 2 COMPANY logo and TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE are brands and/or registered trademarks of TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE. SIXTEEN TONS ENTERTAINMENT, the SIXTEEN TONS ENTERTAINMENT logo, PROMOTION SOFTWARE, the PROMOTION SOFTWARE logo, EMERGENCY 4, the EMERGENCY 4 logo are brands and/or registered trademarks of Promotion Software GmbH. All other brands mentioned are brands and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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Emergency4 Editor Manual