Most of the m file tweeks below have been around for a while, with the exception of the Pre-loading Cheat. If there is a missing tip, please let me know and I'll add it. Some of them date all the way back to the original USNF. I just don't want to keep repeating what's been around forever...but some of the newbies maybe haven't heard of them.

You CAN import libs from the ATFGold Toolkit into the Fighters Anthology. Many thanks to 'Crunch' for the info. It works like this:

"If you're importing someone else's lib, you first have to import it into the ATFG TK. Then copy the folder (file: copy; paste) into the FA TK. Then open the project, and save the items as usual. That's all there is too it! The objects will all be there, but 'some' of them may not work; you'll have to de-bug them"

After a great deal of discussion, flames, rants, raves and the like, one of the guys at the ATFCombat Zone's message board posted a fix for the editor. And it's really quite simple: turn off the joystick. Just go into any single mission and hit the 'esc' key. This brings up the selection/options menu. Select 'keyboard' as your controller, and then hit 'esc' again. End the mission, as we really don't care about that, and go the the PMC. Start a new one or open an existing one you're working on, and lo and behold, the damn thing REALLY WORKS!!!. After doing whatever you had planed in the PMC, save and go fly it. Don't forget the re-select your favorite joystick as controller, and enjoy the sites.

Of course, the FA 1.02 patch fixes this as well. Among other multi-play issues, etc.

Yes, Virginia, you CAN change some of the weather effects in ATFG and FA! Below you'll see a copy of a 'm' files opening lines:

textFormat
brief
briefmap
armplane
map egy.T2
layer cloud1f.LAY 1   --#1   --something extra!!!
clouds 1              --#2
wind 65 7             --#3
view 1211 1424353 956806
sides3 
(---I snipped out all the middle stuff---)
time 10 0      ----#4
usGroundSkill 1
usAirSkill 1
themGroundSkill 1
themAirSkill 1
historicalera 4
obj

#1:You can see here that I've used the 'cloudy day', which would normally give you a low ceiling of about 5000 feet, and an upper deck of about 10,000 feet.

#2: Here is the cloud layer setting. If you use 0 (zero), you'll get a foggy day. We don't want that, so I set the level to '1'.This give a nice, patchy cloud layer RIGHT AT GROUND LEVEL. sort of like patches of snow on the ground. In the line marked 'something extra' you'll notice the 'f' in the middle. This allows you to change the texture overlay of the map. You can see this is 'egy.t2', the Egyptian desert map. By changing that 'e' to an 'f' or 'v' you can get the France or Vladivostok green overlay. It also works the other way, as well. Turn that nice lush green French countryside into a wasted desert. Just change the f to e. And it IS case sensitive...lower case letters ONLY (thanks to the Vark for that tip!!!)

#3: This is wind direction and speed. You can see we have a 7 knot wind from 065 degrees. You can change these values to almost anything -- how about 200 knot headwind, from due north? '0 200' is what that would read like.

#4: Time of day. You can change this as well. Using the 24 hour, military clock. Want to make twilight last longer, change the default to an earlier time: such as 18 to 19; the sun will be up, low on the western horizon. Or dawn break later. The usual time is 6; change that to 4 or 5 -- this gives you a longer night time before the sun rises...it works VERY well if you have long flying times to the target area, and want to get 'upsun' of the Bad Guys! (thanks to P.Mok for the 2 above tips!)

Here is a test mission that allows you to explore a snowy wintery day in Israel...with ground texture changes.

Just Discovered!!! The 'snow' cloud layer can be added with any weather condition. I was experimenting with it using the 'clear day layer', and changed the cloud level to 1 from the 96000+ as usual. And it worked! What's interesting to note, if you change the time of day to 7 or so for a 'sunrise', you get orange clouds on the ground. Must be some kind of chemical haze....smog???

Recievied another email from FabioCape; who sent in two tips below, about 'hidden' maps in FA. It appears that you can REMOVE permanent map objects when building a mission. It works like this:

1) Build mission normally; adding the items YOU want (airfields, city blocks, etc). Save and exit.

2) Open the M file in your favorite text editor.

3) Look for the map T2 identity line (see below)

textFormat
brief
briefmap
armplane
map egy.T2 <---This line!
layer cloud1.LAY 1   
wind 65 7             
view 1211 1424353 956806
sides3 

4) Add the letter "v" after the map name:

map egyv.T2 <--It should now look like this

Save the M file. Go back into the game, and ALL the usual, permanent objects will be gone!. Note: in testing this, I also noticed that several 'ground textures' were missing as well--like rivers, some mountains and other textures.! But it DOES work! So you can clean out all the unecessary items, and have a clean map to do with as you see fit: call it Maryland, or Norway or whatever you want! "If you name it, people WILL believe..."

Also, be advised that it does NOT work in the Vietnam map in FA...if you try it, you will get a "fatal error" and crash out. I'm still testing the other maps as of 9/1...more to come!

NEW!!!There is ANTOHER code letter for use in changing map textures in FA. The Vietnam map uses a T. You can place it in the same spot as the 'e' or 'b'. It will change to map texture to the nam-jungle type. I experimented with this on the Pakistan map, and it looked like crap! The ground texture took on the appearence of a mutant radioactive jungle (which would probable be ok for the post-nuke war world). But it was different. It also will not work on the Baltic, Ukraine or France overlays. I guess since they're green already....

Thanks again FabioCap! This is another good one!

Some time ago, there was a post on one of the now-defunct FA boads, about changing the map icons of aircraft; mostly from bomber to fighter. I've been playing with that; particularly because I needed ships "added to groups" for Wingman #2: Lucifer Crusade. In the original version I used APC's with a ship-shape, but learned that you can change the icon, and now it shows on the map as a ship/boat, but moves in concert with others in a group. Open the object to be edited in a text editor (notepad works great--don't ya love simple text editing!!), and find the line, as marked below:

;---------------- START OF OBJ_TYPE ----------------


;---------------- general info ----------------

    byte 3
    word 258
    word 196
	ptr ot_names
    dword $821
    word $400 <--this line determines icon
    ptr shape

Here is a list of the icon codes:

• 8000 - Fighter
• 4000 - Bomber
• 2000 - Ship
• 1000 - SAM
• 400 - Armoured vehicle (Tanks/APCs)
• 200 - Unarmoured vehicle (trucks, etc)
• 80 - AAA
• 40 - Other (building, camel, Kenny, etc)

If you find out any other, let me know and I'll update the list!

Removed to conserve space

This is something I discovered while working on the 'Korea:1950' mission set. The North/South Korea map come prebuilt with existing objects: airports, a few city spots, etc; no big deal. BUT...you're stuck with all the existing AAA and SAM sites. Since most, if not all these items were invented MUCH later than the 1950-53 conflict, how does one get rid of them?

Well, you could open the map in the TK, save it, and then physically remove all them from the mm file; OR create 'dead' objects. Open the map in a PMC, then turn off the 'show' switch for everything BUT SAM and AAA. List all the objects, both enemy and friendly. Go back to the toolkit and find all the objects (example: SA3.nt). Then remove the weapons from the vehicles hardpoints. What I did with mine was replace the missiles (on the SAMs) or guns (in the case of ZSUs or M163s) with the 'fakegun.jt' ala P.Moks hint. This will show up on your RHAW (which didn't exist yet either...oh well) as the flicking of a search radar, which did exist. You can also create a generic 'AA vehicle' by giving it a something like the 12.7x4.jt -- multiple machine guns. Leave the M1939, KS12 and KS85 alone, since similar flak weapons would exist in ALL eras.

This is what I did, and it works great! This can also be done for any 'Cold War' type missions set earlier then 1962, when the first SA-2's started showing up. Just 'kill' all the later models of SAMs and AAA.

Some of you may have noticed that the Kurile Islands and Ukraine maps are missing from the TK's Map section. Well, some months ago I made mention of that on P.Mok's Message board. And he responded with the following (which I fortunately printed out for safe keeping!)

 Here's how you can add the omitted Ukraine and Kurile Maps back into the FATK

 Using 'Windoze Explorer', go the the FATK sub-folder, and open the subdirectory named Cache.mm in a text editor (notepad, etc). You might want to make a backup of if somewhere safe for insurance.

 Copy these two lines EXACTLY:
 KURILE.MM  Kurile  2 34E58A00A2F98A0004 
 UKR.MM     Ukraine 2 73FD8B00E71F8C0004

 When you look at the mm file listing, you'll see how the columns of names and numbers line up. THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! Save the file -make sure you save "as ALL files". Otherwise if gets really screwed up.
 
 You can now view and save the Kurile and Ukraine maps. And do some other interesting things...

Select the map from the TK's terrain menu. Once the window opens with the map information, just click OK and save it to your project. DON'T MAKE ANY CHANGES YET!!! You'll be informed that the **.mm and ** t2 have been saved. Exit the toolkit and find the **mm file in your project directroy (ie: Toolkit/project/yourprojectname).

Open the **.mm file -you'll probably want to use Wordpad as the file is VERY large. Looking at the file you'll see that it's very similar to the m file for a mission. To remove EVERYTHING, just highlight all the ot, nt, etc file, until you get to the bottom. There is some other stuff down there (that I don't know what it is), but don't touch it. Just remove the usual object suspects.

Save the mm file, select 'save as ALL files', and then you can go back to the TK, and see that all the permanant objects (but not the 'city-type tiles' on the ground have been deleted.

It really works...when I finally finish 'DarkWing', you'll see a blank Ukraine map, with nothing on it but the things for the missions. This trick will be used again in 'IronGate', where the Pakistan map will be standing in for South Africa.....

IMPORTANT SUB-NOTE: If you ever have to 'rebuild the cache' in the Toolkit, you will loose those added maps. They will have to be re-input. Also, be advised that for some reason, the Ukraine map MAY cause crashing of the game. The cache.mm file can become corrupted with modifications...SO MAKE A BACK UP AND STORE IT SOMEWHERE SAFE!!!

NOTE: this special function ONLY works on the W95 games: USNF 97, ATFGold and Fighter's Anthology.

This is probably the most important thing to come about since the 3-D mission editor in ATF 1.14. By editing the actual hardpoints on an aircraft, you can 'custom tailor' the weapons load. Not only for 'friendly' aircraft, but the 'threat' aircraft as well.

Below you'll see a typical aircraft object listing, from the 'm' file:

        .
obj
	type F22.PT
	pos 813526 10000 866368
	angle 0 0 0
	nationality2 0
	flags $4017
	speed 725
	alias -1
	controller $80
	name 
Player

	skill 1
	react $c000 $3fff $0
	searchDist 0
        hardpoint 7 4 agm88.jt     <------- add hardpoint data here            .

By adding the line 'hardpoint * * xxxxxx.jt'(where the * represents a hardpoint number, and the sencond * represents a weapon amount) you have preloaded an aircraft for a specific mission, in this case, our Raptor is performing a SEAD strike.

The hardest thing I've discovered, is locating the object list, or jt file. Having a copy of the ATFG Toolkit is a help, as it lists ALL the usual suspects, but NOT one's adding by external lib files. I'll be trying to compose an object list as time goes by.

If any of you have played by 'FABrit' set, you'll see that I've used it extenisvely, especially with the EF2000, when performing the strike on the old NATO HQ - that aircraft was configured for a strike, plus HARMs for defense suppression, and the usual loadout of air-to-air.

Another trick, I just discovered, using the Varklibs (either FA or ATFG). On aircraft that don't have radar, such as the A-10, you can STILL use the AWAC/JSTARS downlink. While reworking several of the 'DarkWing' missions, and using Vark's E3C 'Sentry', that give BOTH air and ground radar info, I discovered that adding a FLIR pod the the 'Hogs' allowed them to 'see' out to the maximum range of 150 nm. I know this is totally unrealistic, but it sure helps when you have to defend your airbase in a plane with no radar!!!! This seems to work with ANY aircraft, with either the IR or Radar sensors, as long as an AWAC or J-STAR's type aircraft in available.

Not sure if this is a Toolkit Trick or a Misson Trick! Got an email from Alex Fauth, one of the 'Wingfans', and he was fiddling around with my 'Wingman #5: The Twisted Cross' set, and came across a little somthing I thought to pass one. In the mission you have to clear the jungle for the Canal Nazi trucks to pass. Well, we ain't got no jungle, but we do got trees. And now you can make them an addable object to the PMC. In the TK, you can find the 'tree1.ot' & 'tree2.ot' listing. You'll see that they have no "internal name" (the first line in the object description). Well, just fill it in with the matching name (ie: trees1 for trees1.ot), and fill in the description box, make the object 'others can collide', and zinggg...you have groves of trees to be added to a mission in the "other" catagory.

Many thanks Alex! It sure looks good, hiding tanks and vehicles in a forest!

This one came to me while working on the Wingman set for #14 & 15. We all know, and have seen camo netting over vehicles, artillery, and AA units. So, I wondered how I could do that. And the answer was staring me in the face right in the object list: mtcamo.ot -- the camo tent. Which is actually more like netting. You can use the 3d editor to 'drop' it on top of AA batteries, as shown above, or tanks, trucks, troops, crates and containers -- any small object that you want covered. It really dosen't hide them, but it DOES look nice! (see above for adding trees..now we can hide the camo tent, ground unit if a forest!)

Those of you that have played my mission sets,know that I usually have a lot of ground action. And most of you know that most things WILL attack another thing, as long as you give it specific instructions in the waypoint acitvity boxes. In an unlibbed game, the only ship that will attack another ship or object is the Sarancha patrol boat. You can trick the games AI into doing almost anything. I have been able to get AAA's to attack ships, tanks, and structures. I've also gotten SA-7s, 14s and Stingers to attack tanks (sort of a poor mans RPG).You just give the object waypoints, and click on the specific 'target box' in the activity listing. In Wingman #2-The Circle War, at the Battle of Denver, you will see Stinger's shooting at tanks.

As you can see in the image below, in the 'activity' boxes, you have a bunch of selections. The example here is a SARANCHA patrol boat. If you want any Tank, APC, AAA or ship or 'soliders' to attack a structure or vehicle, set the 'fighter' and 'bomber' reactions to either "ignore" or "defend", then set the 'vehicle', 'structure' and 'other' to "attack". If you give the object a waypoint, you MUST list a specific target, such as a group of enemy troops or tanks/APC's. Zoom your map into the smallest grid, approx 1 mile, and give it VERY short waypoint, like 3-10 seconds travel time, with a specific target and set the 'until destroyed' box. That should do it!

Got an email about this, from Fabio Henrique C. Capeleiro (who also discovered the 'select keyboard' fix for FA's PMC 3d editor)from way down south in Brasil, and here is what he said:

"I discovered a way to do the planes get under the 1000 ft limit. To do this you must edit the .m files.

Here's a example: Find the waypoint you wish to edit (to indentify the waypoint more easily, name it) [Altitudes are indicated by the RED text]

waypoint2 6
w_index 0
w_flags $1
w_goal 0
w_next 0
w_pos2 0   0   611242 10000 746057
w_speed 0
w_wng 0 0 0 0
w_react $0 $0 $0
w_searchDist 0
w_preferredTargetId2 $0
w_name 
Attack SAM
 

Then you change this:

waypoint2 6
w_index 0
w_flags $1
w_goal 0
w_next 0
w_pos2 0   0   611242 ->10000<- 746057
w_speed 0
w_wng 0 0 0 0
w_react $0 $0 $0
w_searchDist 0
w_preferredTargetId2 $0
w_name 

 

to 200 or anything else under 1000:

waypoint2 6
w_index 0
w_flags $1
w_goal 0
w_next 0
w_pos2 0   0   611242 200 746057
w_speed 0
w_wng 0 0 0 0
w_react $0 $0 $0
w_searchDist 0
w_preferredTargetId2 $0
w_name 

 

And then the autopilot will hold the altitude to even 1ft! The only problem is: your wingman can't get so low."

Wrench Note: I've been experimenting with this and discovered a few things. The autopilot WILL hold the altitude, but the cockpit voice will say 'descend to angles 0'. And if you set another waypoint, say from 200 to 500 feet, it will say 'climb to angles 0'. Which would be ok, flying over the Dead Sea or Death Valley! Just don't let it throw you; my opninon is that the games AI can't 'see' any altitudes between 1000 feet and ground level.

It's come to my attention, that I've neglected to address some of nicer aspects of editing mt files. Like how to add sounds and some pictures to them. Please note, only certain pictures WILL load and NOT mess with the color palettes.

Adding sounds to the briefing is actually quite easy. You probalby have a mt file open for writing, and want to jazz it up a little. You want to set a 'feel' for the mission...give the player something to worry about. Easy enough. Below is a sample mt, taken from an upcoming 'Wingman' mission from "The Lucifer Crusade":

.section 1
THE LUCIFER CRUSADE -- Mission #02
The Wingman #3
The "Feeling..."
.section 2
.sound ^dohim
.center
.underline
.header
SOMETHING'S COMING!
..underline

You can see, at the beginning of section2, the added line ".sound ^dohim". When starting the mission, on page 1 of the briefing, you will hear 'Do him!'. Remember, to just use ONE sound file per section. I just use it in the opening, and then again in the success and fail debfiefs. Doing it this way eliminates any 'aural confusion' to your machine

In the dark days of DOS, with ATF/NATO, you could add pictures of the weapons icons to your briefings, and they looked pretty good. But when ATFG came out, and I tried to port several mission over, it would crash to the desktop with a loud 'thud'. So, that one is OUT. But you CAN add some nice pics of the medals to your debriefs. They do not affect the color palette, and cause no problems that I've seen. Below is a sample mt file, from the unfinished 'Wildcards 2' mission set:

.section 3
.sound ^objdest
.center
.picture navycrss
.center
.header
MISSION SUCCESS
.left
.body

Excellent work, 58.  You beat your way through the defenses, and plastered the target.  This should stop production of the new fighters for a long time to come.

        "The President of the United States, and the United States Navy, is proud to present you with the Navy Cross, for gallantry in action against overwhelming odds"
         Congratulations.

Missing Picture!

Make sure you use the '.center' above and below the '.picture *.*' line, otherwise the pic will be set flush left.

This is one of the best, and most forgotten trick. And one I forgot to put up here as well!!! This is how it works: You have a ship, airport or whatever you want to give a name to. you need the little 'name line' from the player or computer controled aircraft. It looks like this:

obj
	type F16C-HH.PT
	pos 605163 10000 1600479
	angle 90 0 0
	nationality2 0
	flags $4057
	speed 890
	alias -2
	controller $80
	name 
H.Hunter
 <---this line
	skill 3
	react $0 $8000 $0
	searchDist 0
        hardpoint 4 1 f250.gas
        .

This is Hawk Hunter's special F16 for use in my 'Wingman' series. You can see the name, with the little boxes. This is in notepad. In the atfutil, it will be the little smiley faces, as that's how the dos edit see's it. Now, to name that ship, in this example, use the 'copy' command and slid your cursor over JUST the name section. Find the ship, tank, building, airstrip, whatever you want to name, open a space between the alias and skill lines, like this:

obj
	type KITT.NT
	pos 1179085 0 881381
	angle 90 0 0
	nationality3 0
	flags $4013
	speed 0
	alias -4
	name 
USSSaratoga

	skill 1
	react $c000 $0 $0
	searchDi

And there you have it: you just named the Kittyhawk class carrier (kitt.nt) to the USS SARATOGA. I've done this with ships, city blocks, etc. Now remember, it's very easy to go overboard with this, so if the player isn't really able to target the item you want to name, don't bother wasting time doing it. It just gives the CPU something to do when it should be drawing in some graphics.

Those of you that have played the 'Firebreak' mission set will recall the strike by the Israeli 'Phantom's on the supply depot, where you will see the storage units labeled, one of which is the VR-55 nerve gas, mission objective. In 'Warbirds', when you go after the PSI truck convoy, I DID get a little carried away...several of the truck in line had the labels, that read: 'dontfollow' 'meI'm' 'lost!'. As you scrolled through the targets, your F4 target window would say 'truck', then "Don't Follow Me I'm Lost!" I thought it was funny at the time.....