Strike Fighters Mission Editor

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Introduction

SfMe is a stand-alone FreeWare Mission Editor for Third Wires Project 1:Strike Fighters.

Installation

Just unpack to a suitable folder.
It needs the common dialog OCX and tab control ocx either in Windows\system32 or the same folder as the program.
You may have these files already and may be better deleting the ones I supply - let me know if any problems.
You may need to register the OCX - see the tabctl32.ocx zip for instructions.
Also needs the Visual Basic 6 runtimes - if you dont have them try here

Tank Battle.msn is a test mission supplied by TK - create a Missions folder in your Strike Fighters install folder (if you dont already have one) and copy the file there.
Fly it in SF to check it works then try editting it.

Execution

Either

Double-click sfMe.exe from the desktop
Associate sfMe2.exe with the .msn file type, then double-click on a mission file to edit.

SfMe should find your Strike Fighters install folder by reading the registry - if this doesnt work then just navigate to the right place using the File Dialogs. You can also try editting the sfme.ini file to uncomment and change the sfdir value.

You can edit missions whilst inside SF - just Alt-TAB out to the desktop, make your changes, Alt-Tab back to SF and test them.

Quick Start

Run the program - it should prompt for a mission file, which you probably wont have - so click Cancel. An empty mission should be displayed
Click New, a basic mission will be created and saved automatically (This mission was supplied by TK, so should work on all installs......)
Leave SfMe running Load up Strike Fighters, Single Mission, select and fly.

Assuming that worked ok, return to the main SF menu and Alt-Tab to SfMe

Make a few changes - always remember to Save changes - try INCLEMENT weather!
Alt-tab back to SF, reselect the mission and try again

Tips

Associate .MSN files with the editor, right click a file, Open With..., Other -> sfme.exe, tick 'Always Open ' box. Now just double click a mission to edit it.
To create a variety of missions, copy mission files with Explorer then edit the copies. (There is no Copy or Save As in the editor)
Briefing text is not displayed by SF, it seems to make up its own. Just use it for notes.
Mission Type and A/C type on the front screen cannot be changed - make a flight the 'Players Flight' and they will change automatically.
Player A/C should only be a flyable one (ie with cockpit). I dont enforce this yet. (Havent tried flying a tank - give one a cockpit and see what happens!)
Waypoints are in metres from bottom left of the map. There will be a graphical map screen but for now use pencil and paper. If you have MS Excel it can be used to draw missions (use an XY scatter graph, connected with smoothed lines and showing datapoints). Altitude in metres
Speed in knots?
Msn id Number seems to be just documentary - I thought they had to be unique, but that doesnt seem to be the case.
If the program beeps you probably havent saved a change.
Waypoint code may be flakey - check its worked by reloading mission before testing.
There is very little error-prevention in the editor. Make small changes and test them frequently.
There are more fields I've just discovered that the editor doesnt support yet.
Only the last flight may be deleted.
If all else fails try using notepad on the .MSN file, or send me a copy of the file

Things I'd like

Bug reports
Success reports - I've used it ok on Windows 2000 and 98SE
I'd be interested in any ideas to make SfMe more usefull, but cant promise anything.
Coordinates of interesting places, targets, airbases etc that could be displayed on the map
Info on extra fields in the mission files. I've used the unpacker, but not yet found much of use yet
Info on values for the fields

History

0.3 December 2002

First public Beta release

Distribution

This program is FreeWare and may be distributed non-commercially freely, but must NOT be charged for.
Please contact the Author if you wish to distribute the software in any commercial manner.