Nile editor tutorial's

[Edward]

source Mr . Zoom NW

NILE FAQ



(1) When is the next NILE update?

Nile updates have no specific time schedule, however, they will be frequent and there will be many. Some days you may get 3 or 4 updates in a single day, and sometimes it may be a week or two with no updates. But keep an eye out and attempt to update your game regularly.



(2) How do I export my map as a BMS?

There are no BMSs with NILE. NILE works with NPJ files (Nile Project Files) which contain not only the data necessary to edit the mission, but also the data necessary to load the mission in game. Thus an NPJ file = MIS file + TIL file + BMS file.



(3) What is the STR file that NILE produces?

The STR file is a “string resource� file that conatains the various text strings applicable to that mission. Though this feature is not fully functional, eventually the capabilities of TextTool will be merged with NILE and the STR file will equal the RC file + BIN file. However this feature is not fully functional so in order to generate text strings for things like Map Named Locations, you will still have to use TextTool, RC files and BIN files.



(4) How do I get Map Named Locations to work?

Currently you can place Map Named Location markers, but there is no way to associate them with the text strings in the RC and BIN file. However, keep an eye out here for an update.



(5) Why does NILE generate a WAC file?

The events system in NILE is wholly based on the WAC scripting language. Currently, the events system in NILE is not fully functional, but when it is, you will be able to creat events in NILE which will then be exported as a WAC file. Thus all events and scripting for a level will be within the WAC file that the game will read.



(6) How do I navigate in 3D view?

The camera controls are standard FPS controls. WASD for forward, left, backward and right. Q and E will make you go up and down. Holding down space bar and left clicking will give you free look. Holding spacebar and right clicking will give you advanced camera controls.

[Edward]

(7) How do I set up LFP Groups and takeovers?
Setting Up and Configuring LFPs



First you have to place down your LFPs. These are found under the objects section of the Object Pallette:





Once you have your LFPs placed down you have to set up the respective LFP groups.

To set the group that an LFP would be associated with, you simply open up the LFPs item attributes and set the corresponding group number. LFPs numbered 1 would appear in the first group, 2 would be the second group, and so forth until you reach the last group of LFPs.







In this example, Group 2 has two LFPs on it which means that players must take over ALL the bases in this group before they can proceed onto the next set of bases.



While you can set bases to start out as neutral, it is important that you only ever have one Group of LFPs set to neutral. If there are more than one group set to neutral than teams may accidently take over the bases in the incorrect order and this could result in preventing the teams from taking over the other bases. IN order to fix this, the team would have to retreat from the base they took over out of order and then allow the enemy to take it over.



Once a team has taken over all the Groups of LFPs, the game wins.



If you would like to see an example of an LFP map download this:

ftp://ftp.novaworld.com/pub/updates/nile/us/aas.npj

[Edward]

(8) How do I move objects around?
There are a few ways to do this. The most obvious way is to select the object then click the button that looks like this "+" but is actually 2 intersecting arrows. this will allow you to move the object around on the terrain. To raise the object up, simply hold down the shift key and make use of this tool.

(9) Are there any "nudge" keyboard controls for moving objects?
Yes. They are all on the numpad or the arrow keys:
/ - Snap to terrain
* - Snap to water
8, 6, 2, 4 - Move object up, right, down, left 1/256th of a meter
cntrl + 8, 6, 2, 4 - Move object up, right, down, left 1 meter
7, 9 - Rotate object left, right 1 degree
cntrl + 7, 9 - Rotate object left, right 15 degrees
up arrow, down arrow - Pitch object backwards, forwards 1 degree
cntrl + up arrow, down arrow - Pitch object backwards, forwards 15 degrees
left arrow, right arrow - Roll object left, right 1 degree
cntrl + left arrow, right arrow - Roll object left, right 15 degrees

*Note: these controls may stop working, or may not all work at the moment, but this is what they are supposed to do, and in future updates they should all do this.

[Edward]

TimberWolf7.62 Wrote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(2) How do I export my map as a BMS?

There are no BMSs with NILE. NILE works with NPJ files (Nile Project Files) which contain not only the data necessary to edit the mission, but also the data necessary to load the mission in game. Thus an NPJ file = MIS file + TIL file + BMS file.



That sucks. If we put a map out for download, now everyone has the ability (since they have the mis file) to open it up and do nothing except change the mission and author's name and claim it as their own creation.


Just goto SaveAs and save it as npz, this is like a bms it cant be edited in the editor.

And it still loads and plays like the npj.

Zoom says: I am not sure if the npz really allows a no-edit capability. but it is a more compressed version of the npj. Oh and I will find out for sure.
But also, even if we stuck with the old way, people who really wanted to edit your file, or look at it simply had to download a converter. Such that if people really wanted to get to it, they would. That does not mean it is right or that it should be easy to do it, but I just wanted to point that out.

[Edward]

(10) How do I get my mission name to appear in the load menus, as opposed to the filename?
Currently the game is not looking at the right spot for the mission name, and so all you get is the filename. To fix this, simply download TextTool (available with the BHD Mod tols) and create a new RC file. Then create a new group called "info". Within that group create a new stringID called "title" and "title" will contain the name of your file. Then go Save All, then Save BIN and place the bin file in the directory with your NPJ. All should work well now.

TextTool:
ID TEXT POSITION JUSTIFYtype GROUP
title AS-myMission 0,0 Left info

[Edward]

(11) What team is described by what number?
Team 0 = Nuetral, or no team
Team 1 = Joint Ops or Blue Team
Team 2 = Rebel or Red Team

[Edward]

A.Bullet DFB


Joined: 4/14/2003
Location: Select your country
Posts: 95




Posted: 8/29/2004 7:58:00 AM Top of Page



Delta Height and Color Maps are all available on the right click menu..

Simply right click.. then choose view mode.. then 2D .. then whichever view mode you want to use. .

[Edward]

(12) What are the default AIP's for the vehicles?
"Drivable Dune Buggy" - default_aip d_buggy
"Flyable LITTLE BIRD with benches" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable LITTLE BIRD with miniguns" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable LITTLE BIRD with rocket pods" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Chinook" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Super Puma, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Drivable ATV" - default_aip d_buggy
"Drivable SUV with 50cal" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable SUV with MK19" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable Zodiac" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable Zodiac w/ m60" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable Transport Truck" - default_aip d_5ton
"Drivable Transport Truck with armory" - default_aip d_5ton
"Drivable LCAC" - default_aip d_lcac
"Drivable Attack Vehicle with 50cal" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable Attack Vehicle with Mk19" - default_aip G_Jeep
"Drivable Mark V" - default_aip d_lcac
"Drivable Indo Landing Craft" - default_aip d_lcac
"Drivable BTR-80, Indonesian" - default_aip d_5ton
"Drivable Stryker" - default_aip d_5ton
"Flyable Mil-26, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Nb0-105, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Nb0-105 with miniguns, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Flyable Nb0-105 with rocketpods, Indonesian helo" - default_aip d_mh6
"Drivable Indonesian Assault Boat" - default_aip d_lcac
"Flyable Blackhawk" - default_aip H_BHawk
"Drivable civilian boat #1" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable civilian boat #2" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable civilian boat #3" - default_aip d_zode
"Drivable civilian boat #4" - default_aip d_zode

[Edward]

You can download the NILE Profiler Quickstart Guide here:

ftp://ftp.novalogic.com/jotr/JOTR_NI..._082604_xx.PDF

Or if you do not have Word, or do not care about the pictures, you can read it here:





NILE Profiler Quickstart Guide



The NILE profiler allows you to analyze the movements of all the players in a game. This is useful for map builders who want to see what real players do on their maps. This tool is not for seeing what players are doing on maps you did not make, such as NovaWorld maps. For this reason, the source .NPJ or .MIS file is needed to use the profiler.



To use the profiler you'll need to have NILE, the source file of the map you are profiling, and an .SPH file. The .SPH file contains the profile information for a given game.



To generate a .SPH file, you will need to add a couple things to the shortcut you use to run Joint Ops. Right-click on the shortcut and choose Properties. Make sure you have the Shortcut tab selected. In the text field named Target you will see the path to your Joint Ops executable. You will need to add /profile <filename> to the end of the text already in the Targetâ field. For example:





"C:\Program Files\NovaLogic\jointops\jointops.exe" /profile myprofile



Once you have done this click OK. When you run the game using this shortcut and host a game a .SPH file will be created with the filename you entered. In the example above it would be myprofile.sph. Each time the server cycles a new file will be created: myprofile2.sph, myprofile3.sph, and so on.



To view the profile, run NILE. Open the file of the map you are profiling. If you have the .NPJ simply open it. If you have the .MIS you will need to import it.





Use the import if you have a .MIS source file





Once you have the map file loaded you will need to load the profile. On the right hand side of Nile choose the Play Profiling tab. Click on the Load button and browse to your .SPH file in the popup window. Click on the Open button. You are now profiling the game session recorded by the .SPH file.





To load the .SPH file select the Play Profiling tab and then click the Load button



The player window will populate with the names of all the players tracked in the file. Options can be set for each player. The checkboxes allow you to choose to see the player's location or location history. The color button allows you to choose the color for a given player or group of players. Using color is important for organizing the information on the screen.





The player list shows every player in the game and allows you to adjust how they are displayed



The timeline allows you to move through the play-period by clicking and dragging the bar. As you do, the players you’ve selected to be visible will be seen moving around the terrain. The players whose history you have selected to view will leave a line indicating their path of movement. This line will be in the color you have chosen for that player.





The timeline adjusts the game-clock



The Start Time and End Time fields allow you to input specific times in order to increase the accuracy of the timeline bar. For example, if you set the Start Time to 5 and the End Time to 10, the two ends of the timeline will be 5 and 10 seconds respectively. This allows for a fine level of control with the timeline.





This image shows a 3d view of a player who took a short helicopter ride



The profiler works both with NILE's 3d mode and NILE's 2d mode. To switch modes, just click on the appropriate button in NILE's toolbar.





The same helicopter flight viewed in 2d mode



You have now familiarized yourself with the NILE profiler, and are on your way to becoming proficient with NILE. We hope you utilize these tools to make great maps. Good luck!

[Edward]

Heres all the Helkp files i copied them into notepad

and some other tips from me at the bottom

Welcome to Nile!
With this help you can learn how to use and get the most out of Nile. If you have questions and aren't able to find them here. Be sure to check out the NovaWorld forums for more information. It's a great place to exchange tips and tricks with other players and mission creators.


What is Nile?
The NovaLogic Interactive Level Editor (Nile) is an advanced tool for creating and editing game missions for NovaLogic. Nile allows you to rapidly layout and prototype a mission with two dimensional and three dimensional edit modes. Nile is extremely powerful because you can see what you mission will look like, without having to open the game. Nile includes full support for manipulating objects, scripting events, examining playback information, generating AI navigation information, tiling, string management, and much more.


Navigating the windows
Nile has two main windows. The object data window and the view window. With the object data window you can see what objects you have in the world, information about them, and change modes (more on that later!). The object window is dockable and can be moved and resized to suit your needs. The view window contains one or more 'cameras' into the world. Each camera can be manipulated independently of the others. The cameras can display in numerous 2D or 3D modes. All the toolbars are draggable and can be attached to any side of the main window frame. All of the toolbar windows can also be selectively shown or hidden by toggling them in the 'Tools' menu item.


A quick walk through
1 Follow these steps to create your first mission:
2 Select 'Mission | Terrain Variables...'
3 Pick a terrain and environment file from the lists and press 'Ok'
4 In a moment you will see the view render the current terrain.
5 Select the 'Object Palette' tab.
6 Pick an object to place in the world from the tree control.
7 After you pick and object as you drag the mouse over the camera view you will see a representation of where this object will be placed.
8 When you are happy with its location, press the left mouse button to place the object.
9 Choose a player, start marker from the object palette and place it in the world.
10 With the Object Palette tab selected you are in object placement mode. Each click of the mouse button will place another instance of the selected object in the world. To exit this mode, press the 'Objects' tab.
11 Save your mission to the game directory.
12 Exit Nile and run the game.
13 Your mission should appear in the single player mission list.
14 Enjoy!

Mission Menu
The Mission menu item contains all the items to define your mission. They are:
Briefing - You can enter short and long briefings in these edit boxes. These are the briefings accessible via in game keys. Note, these are not the briefings displayed on load screens.
Level Properties - This dialog allows you to enter information for the Mission name, and Designer. It also allows you to select the game type. The default game type is Single Player.
String Table Editor - Strings used by your level are automatically collected in the String table resource editor. These strings are editable via this dialog box.
Terrain Variables - This is where you can pick the terrain and environment files used by your mission. You can alter and override some settings from the environment file like water level, fog attributes, and time of day.
Victory Conditions -
Waypoint Lists - You can construct waypoint lists via this dialog. A waypoint list is simply a collection of waypoint markers, arranged into a sequence.
----------------------------------------------------------

Continued

Camera Settings
Each view represents a camera. The cameras are moveable and support many options. To move a camera, two techniques can be used. Even at the same time! The first technique involves the use of the space bar. Holding down the space bar (in any mode) puts the mouse into a special movement mode. In a 2D view pressing the left mouse button while holding the space bar will allow you to pan the camera rapidly. In a 3D mode, the left mouse button allows you to orient the camera. The right mouse button allows you to pan the camera. The mouse wheel works in either view as a method to zoom the camera in.
Keys may also be used to move the camera. Under the default key mapping the W,S,A, and D keys will move the camera forward, backward, left, and right respectively. The Q and E keys will move the camera up and down. It is not necessary to press the space bar to move the camera in this way.
You can adjust the speed of camera movement can be adjusted via the toolbar. There are buttons for fast movement (rabbit), slow movement (turtle), and a non-linear accelerating camera (both rabbit and turtle).
The camera context menu can be accessed by right clicking (without the space bar pressed) in the desired camera view. These options are availble from the context menu:
Zoom - Enlarges the selected view to fill the workspace.
Picture in Picture - Displays an additional view in a floating window. This is only available when a view is zoomed. The PIP window doesn't support the full feature set available to the full size window. However, moving the mouse over the PIP window will change cursors to indicate that camera movement functions are available through the mouse. Left clicking will pan in 2D modes, and rotate in 3D modes. The mouse wheel will also function as it normally does. The PIP window contains two additional buttons on its caption bar. The arrows will swap the PIP view with the main view. The thumbtack button locks the cameras in the two views to each other. Moving one will move the other.
LOD - Level of detail is both statically and dynamically adjustable. The default setting for a camera is 'auto'. This setting will render all objects at their lowest detail setting, except for selected objects. These will be rendered at the highest setting. Any LOD can also be chosen from highest to a simple bounding box. This will affect the LOD of every object in the world, for this view.
2D Camera Modes: (accesible by right clicking and expanding the 2d menu)
Colormap - The standard 2D view. Uses the terrain colors to draw the map.
Heightmap - Displays height information. The brighter the color, the higher the altitude.
Deltamap - Displays height information. Red indicates areas that are not flat. Green indicates flat areas. The brighter the color, the higher the altitude.
No Background - No background is displayed.
Tile Mode - Indicates that the camera is in tile editing mode. All mouse interactions and commands operate on tiles, not objects.
Node Mode - Indicates that the camera is in node editing mode. All mouse interations and commands operate on nodes, not objects.
View Elements - Check marks indicate elements that are rendered in the camera view. Note that items that are hidden may still be edited.
Grid - 2D only. Displays a grid at the specified granularity.
Camera Position - Fixes the camera at a given altitude. No items checked indicate that the camera is free to move anywhere, above or below the terrain. If above terrain is checked, the camera cannot descend below the terrain. Eye height indicates that the camera will be locked at 2m of elevation. Birds eye view locks the camera at 32m of elevation.
Maintain FPS - If this item is checked, NILE will try to maintain a frame rate greater than 15 fps (if possible). It accomplishes this by rendering further objects as bounding volumes. You may notice the distance that objects get drawn at will dynamically change depending upon your current framerate. If this is unchecked then all objects are drawn at all times.
Time of Day - Use this dialog to change the current time of day. Note that this time is saved as the time of day to use by the game.
Shadows - Enable and disable shadows with this item.
Brightness - The brightness of objects may be adjusted with this item.

[Edward]

Cursor Modes
Editing in NILE is mode based. Within a given mode, mouse and keyboard input is interpreted as input to that mode. The cursor shape will reflect the current operation mode of Nile. Nile supports the following modes:
Select (Arrow)
Movement (Quad Arrow)
Rotate (Circular Arrow + Axis Letter)
Select Box (2D only) (Crosshair + Plus/Minus)
Magnify (2D only) (Magnifying glass + Plus/Minus)
Pan (2D only) (Hand)
These modes can be activated in one of two ways. You can click on the toolbar image corresponding to the desired mode. Or you may press the short cut key that correspondes to the desired mode. The default shortcut keys are 1 through 6.
The modes may be modified by pressing CTRL or SHIFT keys. The actions of the modes and their modified versions are as follows:
Select
Magnify (SHIFT)
Pan (CTRL)
Movement
Vertical movement (SHIFT)
Rotate Y
Rotate Z (SHIFT)
Rotate X (CTRL)
Select
De-Select (SHIFT)
Magnify
Zoom out (SHIFT)
Pan
Magnify (SHIFT)
------------------------------------------------------------
The Grid
The grid is available in 2D only. By pressing the grid toolbar button or selecting Grid|Size... from the context menu. Sizes are whole numbers only. If zero is entered for either axis the grid will be disabled. You can choose to snap to grid coordinates by selecting the Snap button from the toolbar or from the context menu. Object center points will snap to the nearest grid coordinate as you move them.
------------------------------------------------------------
Tile Mode CRASHES FOR ME
By selecting the Tile Palette you will automatically be placed into tile mode. The Tile Palette lets you select your tile image file. You can zoom in on the images by pressing the zoom button. The insert button will put you into tile insert mode. In this mode you can drop new tiles onto the map. If you aren't in insert mode, you can select tiles by clicking on them. Then use the toolbars to rotate, raise/lower, and flip the selected tiles. Note that the tile toolbar is disabled if you are not it tile mode.

------------------------------------------------------------
Toolbars
Some additional actions available on the toolbars, but not described elsewhere:
Center View - This button appears as a cube with arrows along side. When pressed it will move the active camera to the center point of a select object or group of selected objects.
Camera Tie - This button appears as a necktie. This button opens a dialog that allows you to tie cameras together. Click in the spaces between cameras to toggle a tie between two cameras. A checkmark indicates that the cameras are tied together. An X indicates they are not. If two cameras are tied together the cameras will move to the location of the camera whose button that appears pressed.
Default Tool - This button appears as a hammer. Pressing this button will launch the tool that you have designated as the default tool. You can edit the tool settings via the Tool menu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extensions
Nile supports the concept of plugin extensions. Any extensions added to Nile will appear in the Extensions menu item. Extensions should have their own help.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Updating Nile
There are two ways to make sure that you have the latest version of Nile. From the Help menu you can select Update. This will close Nile and run the update utility. Or you can run the update utility directly. If you choose to run the update utility by hand, then please close Nile before doing so. Failure to close Nile may result in the update failing.



MY TIPS

when you edit something
theres six boxes for its postion in the world
X = North /South
Y = Elevation (its Not Z like in DF Meds)
Z = East /West
Phi = Pitch
Theata = Heading
Omega = Roll

if you place a item and you cant move it
highlight it and click edit
then click ok to get out ot the edit screen
You can move it now
a bug we can work around

Posted: 8/29/2004 7:58:00 AM





Top of Page







Delta Height and Color Maps are all available on the right click menu..

Simply right click.. then choose view mode.. then 2D .. then whichever view mode you want to use. .

[Edward]

(13) What is my Resource Directory? What directory should I choose?
The Resource Directory for NILE is the directory that contains all the assets and game information. In this case it would be the Joint Ops game folder (for example: C:\Program Files\Novalogic\Joint Operations Typhoon Rising)

[Chad]

GJ

[Edward]

Originally posted by Chad
GJ

thx as i play w/nile more i'll add to this but as said in the start the source for this is from Mr Zoom
over @ novaworld . and i think he work's for novaworld

[Chad]

Originally posted by Edward
thx as i play w/nile more i'll add to this but as said in the start the source for this is from Mr Zoom
over @ novaworld . and i think he work's for novaworld

Yes m8 Mr Zoom is an Novalogic employee.

nice work m8 its a big help