UB-MFE
is designed to allow users to place characters in JA2:UB map-files that can
not be placed by the UB-editor.
The UB-editor lets users place enemies and bloodcats on the map. In the game,
however, other characters appear such as civilians, NPC's, RPC's and so on.
These types of characters bring maps and campaigns to life, but can not be
placed in the UB-editor.
Adding these characters requires users open the map-files in a hex-editor
and changing several byte values. This is a laborious process and it's easy
to make mistakes, rendering the map-file unusable.
This program is an attempt to make this process easier, so more users can
create the maps and campaigns they want to.
The program requires users to add bloodcats to maps that can be replaced by
the program.
Replacement possibilities are: civilians, NPC's, RPC's, militia, bugs, cows,
crows, Madlab's Robot, Hamous' ice-cream truck, Dave's Hummer, hicks and both
enemy and militia tanks.
This release
is a beta version of the program. That means not all functions described below
are available yet. When you attempt to do something that's not ready yet,
the program will bring this to your attention.
This also means that UB-MFE can still have some bugs in it, that may result
in your map becoming corrupted and therefor unusable. Please read the 'Disclaimer'
section of this Readme file.
When inventory can be written by the program it will include an installation
progam, as the program will require the location of the JA2UB.exe or JA2.exe
file (modified or not). This will mean that the non-beta release will not
support all exe-versions as some of them haven't been decoded yet. Everyone
will still be able to use the program by pointing it to a downloaded and supported
exe-file. However, those that have a non-supported exe-file that they've modified
won't be able to use
the inventory option correctly (supported version will include US JA2 v1.03,
v1.04, v1.06, US UB v1.00, Polish JA2 v1.05r, French JA2, Dutch JA2, Russian
JA2 v1.02, German JA2 v1.00, v1.01, v1.02, v1.02beta, v1.05, other version
may be supported upon release, depending on whether we'll be able to decode
the information).
Future releases will propably have lock adding capabilities (requires map
with lock already present). Other features may be included, depending on discoveries
made. Just don't hold your breath ;-)
- inventory
not written (use UB-editor to set inventory)
- clothes colors not written yet, i have some trouble getting them to work
- improved bloodcat searchtime in maps
- fixed some problems concerning stats
- updated Readme
- groups are now correctly written (as far as i know ;-)
- spitting bugs don't spit yet
- still need to check it all in the game and disect the testmaps (all appears
allright in the UB-editor)
About
future updates: I won't commit to an update schedule so don't ask ;-).
I'll fix any confirmed bugs as soon as possible, but for now, further development
of UB-MFE will be on a backburner. Don't worry though, it will get finished
as soon as i have the time. It's just that the next few weeks are kinda busy
for me. I'm working on some things in my appartement (installing a new kitchen,
finishing up some things that still need to be done - painting doors etc.),
getting my website up, making at least one other program for LotB,
and of course playing the game.
If any of these files are missing, please report it to me (see 'Contact and availability information' section).
For now the installation of the program is quite simple: just unzip it to it's own folder and start the program.
Open the
UB-editor and create a map. Place bloodcats that will later be replaced by
UB-MFE. Make a note of the gridnumbers of the bloodcats (the number in the
bottom left of the screen). I suggest you write them down with a comment about
what you'll replace them with later on. Remember to save the map and reload
it to see if your bloodcats are still there (sometimes the UB-editor doesn't
save them correctly).
Please read the note about tanks under '3. Replacement characters'.
Start UB-MFE. Open the map-file. Click on the 'Search' button to search for the bloodcats in the map, or if you've checked the 'AutoSearch' option (default setting), this will be done automatically. All found bloodcats will be added to a dropdown list. Pick the bloodcat you want to replace.
The 'Replacement' section has a dropdown list of replacement characters available. Depending on the choice of replacement character the 'Additional' section offers more options concerning the in-game behavior and appearance of the replacement.
NOTE:
if you replace a bloodcat with an enemy tank, remember that JA2:UB only allows
a maximum of 32 enemies! The tank counts as 1, so you should only place 31
enemies. Of course 5 tanks means 27 enemies and so on. On some systems loading
a map with more than 32 enemies in the UB-editor crashes the editor, so be
carefull when placing enemy tanks.
Or you could place the enemies in the UB-editor after replacing the bloodcats
with tanks.
NPC
name: This offers a list of NPC's available. This list is influenced by
the 'Game used:' option. Selecting JA2 presents those NPC's unique to the
original Jagged Alliance 2 game. Alternatively selecting JA2:UB offers a list
of possible NPC for use in the Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business expansion
game.
RPC name: This works the same as the NPC list, but offers the choice
for in-game recruitable mercs.
Group: A list of possible group affiliations is available. Most of
them don't do much. The most import one of the groups is 'hicks'. Like in
the F10 sector of JA2, characters belonging to this group will attack if you
steal something from them, if they see you at night etc. Most of the time
setting the group to 'none' is enough. (see 'Other issues & options' for
information on how to create Hicks)
Existence: selecting 'definitely' means when you play the game you'll
meet the replacement character for sure, and random means just that: they
may or may not be there.
Level: This option is unique for Militia and tanks. If you've played
the game you'll know what this means.
Statistics: Clicking on the 'Statistics' button brings up the Statistics
window. If statistics have been entered in the UB-editor, they will be read
by the program. Otherwise all statistics will be reset to 0. Setting them
to 0 will allow the game to set them randomly. Again: if you've played the
game you'll know what the statistics mean. (if you don't enter stats in the
UB-editor they'll be reset to 0)
Inventory: Clicking on the button presents you with the inventory screen.
Here you can select what the character will have in his possession. The items
available are once dependant on the exe-file selected (JA2 or JA2:UB).
[b]Appearance[/b]: Clicking
on the button brings up the Appearance window. Here you can set the way characters
appear in the game. Most of the time keeping it to random is allright. But
if you want characters to have a specific clothes' color (to create groups
for instance) you can set it here.
Game used: Depending on which of the 2 you've selected, the lists of
NPC's and RPC's are changed to present only those that are available in the
game.
Notes
about the inventory screen:
The inventory screen doesn't work yet - description and procedures to follow.
Use the UB-editor for now.
If you're
satisfied with your replacement character click on the 'Save' button to write
the data to the map-file.
Open the altered map-file in the UB-editor to see if the changes have indeed been made. Also, play the map in the game to see if the situations you've created come out the way you wanted them to.
That's
really all there is to it.
In short: Create a map with bloodcats, open the map in UB-MFE, select replacements
and save.
Under
the system menu you'll find the configuration options and the readme file.
Clicking on these will bring up a new window that displays either the configuration
options or this readme document. Under the configuration options you'll be
able to set the exe-file to be used when setting the character's inventory.
Setting the exe-file's location folder also assumes that a 'exe-location\data\binarydata'
folder is present that contains the ItemDesc.dat or Itmdsc25.dat file. If
one of these files is not present an error-message will be generated and the
inventory screen will be unavailable.
For information on obtaining an ItemDesc.dat or ItmDsc25.dat file, see the
Lords of the Bytes Forum.
To make hicks and other group characters (including Militia) select one of the 3 soldier body-type at the top of the list. Use the group-list to determine to which group they belong (militia is at the bottom). As mentioned above, most of the groups don't really do anything in the game. The most important groups are 'Hicks', 'Kingpin' and of course 'Militia'. Selecting one of the soldier body-types and group 'none' is not possible and generates an error.
There a several thing that could be done by UB-MFE, but are not available. That is because it is much easier to do and change in the UB-editor. These are the settings for 'face direction', 'attitude' and 'order'. Especially 'face direction' is much easier done when you look at the complete map.
Use
UB-MFE only for JA2:UB maps. The program happily searches and replaces bloodcats
in JA2 maps, but there are some internal differences between the two. This
could result in your map becoming unusable, so don't use JA2 maps.
If you want to use your map to replace a sector in JA2, use Gold's map converter
to change them (available on www.freelancer.ag.ru).
There have been some reports concerning errors in the converted maps, so check
them thoroughly. Deleting all enemies and triggers usually solves most of
the problems. Also remember that JA2 uses a different way of determining the
enemies in maps. This may result in for instance tanks not showing up. Read
the Lords of the Bytes and Bear's Pit forums about further information on
these issues.
If
you want to create enemy tanks: set the group to 'None'.
Remember that tanks also count as enemies, so place enemies in the UB-editor
accordingly (max. 32 enemies).
The Hummer, ice-cream truck and robot are for use with maps that will be used in JA2. In JA2:UB maps they can be placed, but only as decoration for the map.
The
same goes for most NPC's (those not found in JA2:UB). They only interact with
the player in JA2 maps. Placing Tony in an JA2:UB does not result in another
gun trader. He will talk to you but hasn't got anything for sale (probably
left his goods in Arulco).
For NPC's and RPC's to appear in the game and to do anything other than stand
around requires additional steps from the user. Check Deutscher's post 'JA2
RPC's in JA2:UB' on the Lords of the Bytes website and forum (www.lords-of-the-bytes).
Also, you cannot set attributes and inventories for NPC's and RPC's. These
are controlled by separate files (prof.dat for JA2, JA25prof.dat for JA2:UB).
Again, check the posts on the Lords of the Bytes Forums. Important to do is
set the NPC or RPC's sector correctly using ProEdit (and again: available
from Lords of the Bytes, in the 'JA2 Files' section).
NPC
and RPC names are read by the program from an ini-file (NPC-RPC.ini). If you
plan on changing the names for a campaign, open this files in a texteditor
(for instance Notepad) and replace the names as desired. This not really necessary,
but will make using UB-MFE a little easier.
Theoretically you could have bloodcats and bugs fighting on your side. This would be unrealistic and I don't know (yet) how this will work in the game. So for the moment that is not possible without hex-editing the maps yourself. Once again, check the posts on the Lords of the Bytes Forum (www.lords-of-the-bytes.com). If I get enough requests and/or have the time to try it out, that may be changed in a future release.
The program searches only for bloodcats, although other characters could be found by the program with some modifications. This is done for 2 reasons: 1: replacing bloodcats doesn't interfere with the enemy count on maps (32 enemies required in map-files, only exception are enemy tanks); 2: the gridnumber is found at least twice in the map-files, searching for additional values that are unique to bloodcats lowers the chance for errors significantly.
THIS PROGAM
(UB-MFE) IS DISTRIBUTED AS IS AND COMES WITH NO WARRENTIES WHATSOEVER.
This
might sound rude and unfriendly on my part, but don't send me any unsollicited
maps, i won't examine them for errors. Also don't mail me with questions which
you can find the answer for on the forums or in this readme.
I will respond to this once and delete any subsequent e-mails from you unread.
Like i said, this sounds unfriendly, but we have forums and i made a pretty
comprehensive readme for UB-MFE, so if you don't read through them, that's
your choice, just don't bother me with that. That being said, don't be shy
to post on the forums or contact me, 'cause i'm really a very nice guy :-).
Using the program could potentially result in your map-file becoming corrupted
and unusable (hey, that could also happen in you use the UB-editor), so back
up the map-file before using this progam (but you always do that, right ;-).
UB-MFE
- Unfinished Business Map-File Editor is copyright©2001 by Roadkill.
Jagged Alliance 2 and Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business are copyright(c)1999-2000
by Sir-tech Canada Ltd. (Thanks)
The program
itself is freeware. You can distribute to anyone in anyway you want as long
as you don't charge any money for it and inform me about it. Just make sure
you include the complete zip and don't alter anything (hey, it's copyright
by me ;-). The only thing that may be altered is the included NPC-RPC.ini
file. The original ini-file must be included in any release in a folder named
'backup'.
If you post it on a website, let me know so i can inform you of any updates.
Many thanks
go to everyone at the Lords of
the Bytes and Bear's Pit
Forums for their input and information.
Special thanks go to Deutscher, Dekadent Viking and Blast for their research
into UB map-files. Without that information this program would never have
existed. Also a big thank you (in no particular order) to Toxic, Cortexx,
Linx, Mack, Snap, Batman and everyone else who has made a contribution to
UB-MFE in one way or another and who's name should be here, but has been forgotten
by me (sorry about that).
The
program will be distributed through Lords
of the Bytes, so check there regularly for any updates.
Comments, suggestions and bug reports can be placed on the Lords of the Bytes
Forum (by registered Lords of the Bytes members only, so if you're not registered
yet, i suggest you do so). I will try to respond to all subjects concerning
the program and iron out any confirmed bugs as soon as possible.
You can also contact me by e-mail: Roadkill
Now go and have fun.... Roadkill