Terrain Type: Determines what type of terrain is laid down; grass, rock, or another selection from the palate. For every world type (lush, desert, etc.), there are at least six different kinds bitmaps that can be laid down.

Selection Action: Selects the action you want to perform on the selected terrain. The list of actions, seen above in the pull-down menu, is described as follows:

Note: the first button is set exclusively to terrain tiling and cannot be changes.

Relight: Relights the terrain.

Many of the settings here require going into the Options screen. Press O to bring it up.

Height Set: Elevation that all selected tiles are snapped to, used with the SetControlHeight and SetCornerHeight functions.

function. The larger the number, the more smoothing that is applied to the terrain.

Seed Value: The value the terrain generator is seeded with.

Flag Mask: These are used specifically for adjusting individual terrain tiles.

Corner: Sets selected tile as a corner piece.

Empty1, 2, 3: Removes selected terrain tiles from the map, creating a hole. Empty1

cuts out a Level 1 poly, Empty2 a Level 2 poly, etc.

Display Options: Controls how the grid appears on the map.

Paste Mask: Controls how terrain is pasted if you are using cut-and-paste. Both the Height and Material boxes are defaulted to on.

Brush: Controls features of the selector grid.

Snap: When on, the selector grid will always snap to corners. When off, you are

free to move the grid across the map.

Feather: When on, this will automatically smooth terrain when its elevation is changed. If a single tile is lifted up, for example, neighboring tiles will also be raised to smooth it out.

Quick Light: A "quick and dirty" terrain lighting option; not as comprehensive as the full mission lighting procedure but not as time-consuming, useful to give you an idea of what lighting is going to look like.

Gen Random: Generates random seed value for the terrain each time you press it.

Press O again to go back to the Terrain Editor window.

B. Using The World Editor

Press F3 to bring up the Object Editor window.

To place an object, have the camera pointed in the general location you want the object to be placed and select it from the menu in the lower right hand corner. The menu on the left contains the object folders, the menu on the right will contain the objects in the selected folder. For example, if you wanted to put a plasma turret in the mission, you would select Turrets from the left menu and Plasma Turret from the right menu.

Once an object has been placed, you can move it around by left clicking on it and dragging it to where you want it placed. A selected object will have a green circle instead of silver. To move the object up and down in place, hold down the control key while moving the mouse. To rotate the object in place, hold down the Shift key while moving the mouse.

You can also move objects by adjusting their coordinate numbers. This is useful for when trying to align objects exactly or trying to move them by small increments. Select an object and press F2. This will bring up the position coordinates for the selected object. You can modify both the rotational and positional numbers from this menu. You may change these numbers, then click on the Apply button to implement the changes.

The Lock button will prevent an object from being selected and moved. This feature is useful when placing and moving objects inside of other structures.

The >>Cam button will take a selected object and place it in front of the camera. The Cam>> button will take the camera and move it to the selected object. The >>TSC will return the camera to the screen center.

Volumes

World

Landscape

Lights

Observer Drop Points

Teams

Mission Cleanup

Volumes

Contains all the volumes of data required to run the mission. You do not need to add or change anything in this folder

World

Contains the palate and mission center information. You can move the mission center elsewhere along the map but it is not recommended. When building a new mission, it is recommended you start at the mission center and work your way out from there to make sure placed objects do not go out of the mission area.

The Extent field controls how large the map is. Compare the numbers in a large mission, like CrissCross, to a small mission, like Peekaboo, to get an idea of how large you want your mission to be.

Landscape

Contains the terrain and environmental art. In the Sky field will be your default sky. Click on it to bring up the Sky menu at the lower right. In the Material List DML field, enter the kind of sky you want, depending upon your chosen terrain set:

lush: litesky.dml lushdayclear.dml lushsky_night.dml

ice: greysky.dml icenitesky.dml

desert: nitesky.dml deserttansky.dml

mars: marsday.dml marsdusk.dml marsdaycloud.dml

mud: mudsky_day.dml mudcloudnight.dml mudusk.dml
alien: aliengreysky.dml alienight.dml aliensky_cloudyday.dml

In the Texture Index X fields, enter 0 through 15 to wrap the sky bitmaps around your level.

If you do not want a sky (for a night mission, for example), leave the Material List DML field blank.

You can also add suns, planets, weather effects and a starfield. Press F3 to bring up the Place Objects menu and select from the Sky menu.

When placing a sun or planet to be your light source, be sure that the Directional Intensity is set to (0.7, 0.7, 0.7) and the Ambient Intensity is set to (0.3, 0.3, 0.3).

Observer Drop Points

These are the points that you can watch the action from before your player spawns in the game. These should be placed in areas where there's a lot of action; entrances to bases, near flags, etc.

Teams

You will need to have a Team folder for each team in the mission. Each team folder will have to contain a DropPoints folder, which in turn will contain a Random and Start folder. These control where the players will spawn in the game; Start for where they initially start in the game, Random for where they spawn after dying. There must be at least 16 Start drop points (for the team maximums), 16 or more Random drop points are also recommended. Look at .mis files in your TRIBES mission directory for examples.

The best way to add additional team folders is to copy (CTRL-C) the existing folder and paste (CTRL-V). Be sure the new folder is part of the Teams folder and not in the Team0 folder.

Mission Cleanup

Controls player respawns and dynamic objects. Do not place any objects here that you want to save, as this folder is wiped clean after each restart.

B. Adding Buildings And Objects

When adding structures and other objects to a level, first create at least one new Group folder in the appropriate Team folder to place these in.

Open one of the .mis files in your TRIBES mission directory for examples of how this is done.

Options

Press O to bring up the Place Objects Options screen.

The Show Edit Objects box is defaulted to on. It shows the objects in the mission that can be edited. The Show Grab Handles box controls whether or not you can see the handles (the green dots), it is also defaulted to on. The Use Plane Movement box is off. If on, objects will not hug the ground when moved with the mouse, rather, they will move along a flat plane unless you use a keyboard modifier.

The Grid Snap box will constrain selected objects to being able to move only in the selected declinations when selected. If the X and Y axes are set to one, then selected objects would move in those planes only one meter at a time.

The Rotation Settings box controls what axis you can rotate objects in; it is defaulted to the z-axis. Setting the Snap Rotations box on will, similarly to the Grid Snap functions, allow objects to be rotated only in 90-degree declinations.

The Drop Objects box controls where objects are dropped in the level once added. They are presently defaulted to the screen center.

The Motion Constraints box can assign constraints on moving objects in different axes. If selected on, objects will not move in the selected axes.

C: Using the Object Editor

Press F2 to bring up the Player Editor window:

This tool is used primarily for editing individual objects in the editor. Fields such as the object's position, rotation, team designation and name can be edited here.

Options

The Object Editor's Option screen is identical to the Place Options screen.

Step 1: Create Terrain

Go into the Mission Editor and press F4, then click on the Landscape button. This will bring up the PLS window. Review the PLS document on how to create a terrain map, or use one of the existing default .pls files (Q: Scott, are we going to include some of these?).

To add objects, press F3. The menu on the left in the lower right is a list of all the folders containing objects you can place in the game:

Mission: Contains Groups, Markers and Drop Points

Sky: Contains environmental art and weather effects

Objectives: Flags and tower switches

Stations: All the various stations

Generators: All the generators and solar panels

Turrets: All the turrets

Panels: All the panels that are placed with various structures

Weapons: All the weapons

Ammo: All the ammunition

Packs: All the packs

Comms: Different types of antennae and dishes

Sensors: All the different detection devices

Base: Ancillary objects for placement inside structures

Doors: All the different types of doors that can be placed in structures

Environment: Different types of plants

Test: Forcefields and electric beam effects

Platforms: Different kinds of elevator platforms

LushRocks: Different kinds of rocks to be placed in a mission

HumanBase: Large, hollow structures

HumanBigAss: Really large, hollow structures

HumanBridge: Bridge pieces

HumanBunker: Smaller, hollow or open-air structures

HumanCargo: Different crates, unique to four major tribes

HumanComboHall: Modular structure

HumanDropShip: Different dropships, unique to four major tribes

HumanExterior: Simple exterior shapes for placement in missions

HumanFlagCrash: Unique modular structure of a crashed floating building

HumanFloatBase: Floating buildings

HumanFloatingPad: Floating platforms, unique to four major tribes

HumanFuncTank: Medium-sized hollow structures

HumanHall: Underground hallways

HumanListeningPost: Similar to HumanFuncTank

HumanLogo: Modular objects forming TRIBES logo

HumanMiscObj: Miscellaneous objects for placement in missions

HumanOutpost: Imperial outpost structure

HumanPipeCon: Modular structures, originally to be used with dam structures

HumanStandAlone: Bunkers and floating buildings

HumanTest: Test objects, do not use

HumanTower: Different towers

HumanWall: Walls for forming a base

Doors, Elevators and Force Fields

There are basically three parts to an elevator, door or forcefield: the group that contains it, the SimPath group that contains the markers that "mark" the path the object takes. Note: for each door, elevator or forcefield, each must contain its own markers in a SimPath folder. Two doors, for example, like the ones in Citadels, need to have their own markers.

instant SimGroup "Elevator" { ß The Group with the objects

    instant SimPath "Path1" { ß The Group with the markers

    isLooping = "False";

    isCompressed = "False";

        instant Marker "Marker1" { ß actual Markers

        dataBlock = "PathMarker";

        name = "";

        position = "-324.094 204.632 140.197";

        rotation = "0 -0 -2.67991";

        };

        instant Marker "Marker1" {

        dataBlock = "PathMarker";

        name = "";

        position = "-324.091 204.629 146.198";

        rotation = "0 -0 -2.67989";

        };

        instant Marker "Marker1" {

        dataBlock = "PathMarker";

        name = "";

        position = "-324.091 204.629 152.204";

        rotation = "0 -0 -2.67989";

        };

    };

    instant Moveable "elevator_4x41" { ß The moving object

    dataBlock = "elevator4x4";

    name = "";

    position = "-324.094 204.632 140.197";

    rotation = "0 0 -2.67991";

    destroyable = "True";

    deleteOnDestroy = "False";

    delayTime = "761.149";

    Status = "up";

    stopWayUp = "1";

    stopWayDown = "1";

When placing doors and elevators, it is advised that you set the rotation to 0,0,0 if possible and use whole numbers, not decimals, for the position numbers.  This will make your job infinitely easier; trust us, we know.

//--- export object end ---//

$teamScoreLimit = 200;

exec(objectives);

$Game::missionType = "C&H";

$cdTrack = 11;

$cdPlayMode = 1;

The $teamScoreLimit function controls how many points are required for victory. For a Capture and Hold mission, the number will be high, for CTF and other similar missions, the number will be lower.

The exec ( ) function also controls mission type. Exec(objectives) means that it is an objective based mission…more here, research:

The $Game::missionType function tells the game what category the mission falls under. Your choices are C&H (Capture and Hold), DM (Deathmatch), CTF (CaptureTheFlag), D&D (Defend and Destroy) and MT (Multiple Team).

The $cdTrack function determines which track of the CD is played. To play different CDs, consult the FAQ.

The $cdPlayMode function determines if a CD is to be played--if set to 1, it is, if set to 0, it is not.

Depending upon the mission type, different values must be assigned to the Objectives. Open the .mis file using WordPad or similar tool and locate the objective items. Here is a sample of code:

instant StaticShape "Switch" {

    dataBlock = "TowerSwitch";

    name = "West Switch";

    position = "21.3966 -229.133 48.0886";

    rotation = "0 -0 1.0799";

    destroyable = "True";

    deleteOnDestroy = "False";

    objectiveLine = "14";

    rotates = "False";

    collideable = "False";

    count = "0";

    objectiveName = "the West Tower";

    deltaTeamScore = "12";

Each objective must have a unique objectiveName (in this case, "the West Tower," and a deltaTeamScore value. For flags, this should be one. For switches, this should be twelve (as they measure points per minute, and it keeps the numbers even).

In a D&D-style mission, where you are trying to defend and/or destroy objects, you will have to go into the .mis file using WordPad or similar program and add script to make these objects objectives. Here is a sample before adding objective code:

instant StaticShape "PortGen1" {

    dataBlock = "PortGenerator";

    name = "Secondary Generator";

    position = "589.314 235.375 57.7352";

    rotation = "0 -0 0.979983";

    destroyable = "True";

    deleteOnDestroy = "False";

And here is a sample after:

instant StaticShape "PortGen1" {

    dataBlock = "PortGenerator";

    name = "Secondary Generator";

    position = "589.314 235.375 57.7352";

    rotation = "0 -0 0.979983";

    destroyable = "True";

    deleteOnDestroy = "False";

    objectiveLine = "13";

    scoreValue = "2";

    objectiveName = "Secondary Generator";