X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter Workshop
Version 1.0 beta 3
Copyright 1997 Evan Sabatelli
http://www.dragonfire.net/~ESab/xvt/
esab@geocities.com
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NOTICE:
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If anyone has any skill at creating graphics, I am in need to good icons
for the briefing editor, as well as a good splash screen.  The icons in the
briefing editor are pretty non-descript and difficult to understand, and since
I have no skill at creating graphics whatsoever, I thought that maybe somebody
would be kind enough to help out :)  If so, send me, Evan Sabatelli, some email
at esab@geocities.com.  Thanks!


INTRODUCTION
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The X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter Workshop allows you to create and edit missions
for the LucasArts game X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.  Currently, you can edit and
create flight groups, messages, global goals, and briefings!

Future plans for the program include:
 
 - A wave manager/recorder for radio messages
 - A mission manager to install/uninstall missions from XvT 
 - There will be a complete help file within the next release or two.


INSTALLATION
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Unzip the XvT archive into its own directory.  Then run XvTW.exe.
The first time you run the program, the preferences dialog will appear,
and you should enter your XvT directory (or whatever directory you
want the open dialog to default to).  To uninstall, simply delete
the xvtw.exe file.  Easy, eh :)

REQUIREMENTS
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The program requires Windows 95, but should run under NT (hasn't been
tested).


NEW DOCS FOR BETA 3 - READ THIS FOR IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BRIEFINGS!!!
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This version of XvTW has the capability to make complete briefings for your
missions.  However, you must know a bit about the program and XvT in order
for your briefings to work.  

Up to 8 briefings can be created within an XvT mission.  The briefing
list box on the briefings page of the mission window switches between
these 8 briefings.  This box switches the briefing that ALL OTHER BRIEFING
FUNCTIONS work on.  This means that the briefing that all the menu functions
"work" on is controlled by this list box.  Also, each briefing is "assigned" 
to one or more TEAMS.  If you create a briefing, but forget to assign it to
a team, or assign it to the wrong team, you will be extremely frustrated 
and the briefing will NOT appear.  To assign a briefing to a team, click
on the "Briefing" menu and click "Briefing Options".  In this dialog, you
can set the length of the briefing (how long it goes before it loops and
starts at the beginning again), and which teams it is assigned to.  Make
sure you assign any briefings you create to one or more teams, or they
will be ignored by XvT.  

The WYSIWYG briefing editor (what you see on the briefing page of the mission
window) is the easiest way to edit missions.  After specifying a briefing
length in the briefing options window, you can begin editing.  The 
VCR-style buttons at the bottom control the position of the briefing.  You can
effectively preview your briefing without leaving XvTW.  The position of ships
on the briefing map is controlled by the "Briefing Map" function on the Briefing
Menu.  For each briefing, you must decide which flight groups will appear in the
briefing and where they will be.  The position of a flight group in the briefing
need not be anywhere near where it actually appears in the mission.  

On the briefing page, you can drag "text tags" which appear on the map, or 
double-click on them to edit them.  You can also double-click on any boxed flight
group to delete the box around it.  Use the toolbar at the top of the page to 
insert events into the briefing, such as changing the position or zoom of the map,
or changing the caption text.  A "stop point" is a point where the briefing will
break when the user clicks the "fast forward" button in XvT. 

The "Edit Strings" and "Edit Tags" functions in the briefing menu are provided
in case you need to manually edit these - you do not need to use these functions
if you don't want to - the WYSIWYG map editor will take care of them automatically.

The "Briefing Commands" function allows you to directly edit the briefing commands.
It is not necessary to use this if you are using the WYSIWYG editor, but is provided
for finer control over events.  Keep in mind that if you edit the briefing commands
manually, each briefing must have a "Briefing End Marker" event at time "9999".  
Without this event, your briefing will not function.  Again, do not worry about this
if you only use the WYSIWYG editor.

Sorry if this got a little long and convoluted :)  As always, report problems to me
at esab@geocities.com and keep building missions!

NEW NON-BRIEFING DOCUMENTATION
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You can now edit the "global unit" variable of each flight group.  All flight groups
with the same (non-zero) "global unit" will appear and be treated as one giant flight
group in XvT.  Nifty, eh :)  

NEW DOCS FOR BETA 2
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Well, the mission map (Mission | Mission Map) is pretty easy - just click and
drag ships/points to move them.  When a flight group is selected in the 
list box underneath the map, click on the "Edit Points" button to select
which points are used or edit them manually.  Right click on the map to
recenter the map on the point you clicked on.  Selecting a new flight group
will center the map on that flight group.  

Point Sets - In the map, there are 3 available point sets.  A point set is
a set of variables that determines which points are shown on the map.  This
makes it so that you can show only the points you want on the map, and 
helps keep the map uncluttered.  Click "edit point sets" to define which
points are shown in each of the point sets and give each set a name.  Then,
click on a point set's radio button to select it.  

User Defined Goal Descriptions - XvT allows you to specify new strings that
it will use in place of X-Wing Red was destroyed (100%) in the goals box.
Go to Mission | Global Goal Descriptions to edit the descriptions for the
global goals; descriptions for flight group goals can be edited by double-
clicking on the goal.  There are 3 user defined strings for each goal.
Leaving them blank will make XvT use the default strings.  

The 3 strings are for different conditions.  For example:

Incomplete:  X-Wing red must be destroyed (100%)
Succeeded:   X-Wing red was destroyed (100%)
Failed:      X-Wing red was not destroyed (100%)

The user-defined goal strings are especially handy when dealing with global
groups.  Instead of XvT saying Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 and Beta 1 and Beta 2
must be destroyed, you can say "Alpha and Beta must be destroyed".


BETA 1 DOCUMENTATION
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C'mon - this is only a beta version!  What do you expect :)

Hopefully, I will have a full, context-sensitive help system sometime soon.
In the meantime, here are some of the most important things you will need to
remember when creating missions.

 - XvT is both different and similar to TIE Fighter.  In XvT missions, there
   are 10 "teams".  Each team consists of multiple flight groups, and each
   has its own seperate mission goals.  Whether or not another flight group
   is considered an "enemy" is based on whether or not they are on your team,
   NOT whether their IFF code is the same as yours.  IFF Codes are really
   only for colors in XvT, and the "sides" of the battle are specified in the
   teams.  So remember that anything you want to destroy/attack/etc should be
   on a different team, or else you will be penalized for attacking a craft
   on your side!
 - To make it so a human player can play in a flight group, set the "human
   can play" value to something other than zero.  A star appears after FGs
   that are "human playable" in the list.  Usually, you can just set this
   value to 1, but since the original game missions sometimes have values
   other than 1, I allowed this as well.
 - Messages can be dispatched to any or all teams by choosing which teams
   will receive the message by clicking on the teams button in the message
   properties box.
 - You can run XvT and the workshop at the same time and Alt-Tab between
   them.  However, you must get out of the mission's briefing in XvT, then
   return to the briefing for the mission to be reloaded.  Otherwise, you
   will not see your changes in the game.
 - The conditions and many other variables where long "lists" of choices are
   involved are mostly taken verbatim from the TIE Fighter definitions.
   This is mostly correct, but not always, and I have not bothered to retest
   every single item.
 - As always, look at original missions to see how things are constructed
   before asking me.
 - I'm sure someone else has written something about playing custom missions
   in XvT, but I'll write something quickly anyhow.  In XvT, you don't have
   to overwrite the original missions to add custom ones.  Just put your
   custom mission in one of the mission directories (usually "train" or
   "combat") in the "xwingtie" directory.  Then edit the .lst files so that
   your mission is included.  Open up imperial.lst, for example, if you want
   your mission to appear when the "imperial" button is clicked in XvT.  Then,
   enter a new number on a new line, then add the description you want for your
   mission, then the file name of your mission on the 3rd line.  Then, copy 
   your mission to the directory that the .lst file was in and play!
 

If you still have questions or suggestions, please send email to
esab@geocities.com.

Check out the XvTW web site at http://www.dragonfire.net/~ESab/xvt/ for
the most recent version and whatever other news I happen to post there.

DISTRUBUTION
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You may freely distribute the main archive so long as the contents
of the archive are not altered in any way.


LICENSE
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  You are granted the right to use and to make an unlimited number of
copies of this software. You may not disassemble, decompose, reverse
engineer, or alter this file or any of the other files in the package. This
includes, but is not limited to modifying any icons, menus, or displays
associated with the software.

 This software is provided as FREEWARE and cannot be sold. This
restriction does not apply to connect time charges, or flat rate
connection/download fees for electronic bulletin board services. This
software can not be bundled with any commercial package without
express written permission from the author.

 The author of this program accepts no responsibility for damages
resulting from the use of this product and makes no warranty or
representation, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any
implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
This software is provided as is, and you, its user, assume all risks when
using it.


DISCLAIMER
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THIS SOFTWARE AND ALL ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED.  THIS INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED
TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL EVAN SABATELLI BE LIABLE FOR ANY
DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE 
THIS PRODUCT.


SPECIAL THANKS!
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Thanks to Jeremy Lee for the help with the XvT file format.

Also, thanks to Richard Burkert for more help with the XvT file formats
and ideas about XvT.

Thanks to Jacob Winkler for the excellent XvTW icons!

And everyone else who has helped out and gave me ideas for this project!

COPYRIGHT STUFF
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X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is a registered trademark by LucasArts Entertainment
Company and is Copyright (C) 1997.  LucasArts is a trademark of the
LucasArts entertainment company.  Windows and Windows 95 are trademarks
of the Microsoft Corporation.  All other trademarks are acknowledged as
the property of their respective owners.  

COMMENTS/BUG REPORTS/ETC
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Your comments are welcome!  Send anything you think I might want to
know to esab@geocities.com with XvTW as the subject.

Thank you for using XvTW and have fun!

.
