Forums / Mapping Guides / Loading Screen, Preview, Icon, Objectives Text - Battlefield 1942 [ISR] INTERSTATE RACING - IS82 FOR BF1942

Rich

[ 12:02 ] [ 10 Jul 2004 ]

Joined: [ 23:00 ] [ 17 Feb 2004 ]
Posts: 435

Note that when saving images as TGA and DDS with Paint Shop Pro 8, I found they did not work properly within Battlefield. So if like me you find the controls of PSP easier than Photoshop, I recommend you save your PSP image as a BMP, then open it in Adobe Photoshop, and save it as a TGA or DDS, otherwise you might get unexpect results.

Please read through everything once before giving it ago.

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Extracting your map:

Before editing, you need to extract the files from the RFA.

For this use RFA RAT, available from

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/r2at/rat-0.5.0-win32gui-dynbin.zip?download

Also good is RFA Explorer, but you need the .NET framework installed, available from the Windows Update site.

http://www.inicia.es/de/lorenmarti/RFA%20Extractor%20v1.1.zip

After you have extracted, you should have a bf1942 folder.

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Loading Image:

This needs to be 800x600 .TGA ( Targa )

When saving you need to use the options:

QUALITY 24 Bit and COMPRESSION OFF

Using any other settings will cause colour warping.

Save the image to where you extracted as:

bf1942\levels\YOURMAP_NAME\Menu\load.tga

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Preview Image:

This is the small image you see when selecting a map within Interstate.

For this just edit the default image you are given:

bf1942\levels\YOURMAP_NAME\Menu\thumbnail.dds

Leave the GAP at the bottom of the image, and when saving set the follow dds options:

DXT1 RGB (No Alpha), 2D Texture, No MIP maps

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Map Icon:

This is the small Interstate icon that appears next to the map name.

Copy the file Battlefield 1942\Mods\interstate\serverInfo.dds

And put it in bf1942\levels\YOURMAP_NAME\Menu\

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Using the Images:

While the preview image is ready to go, you need set the location of the loading image and the icon.

Edit bf1942\levels\YOURMAP_NAME\Menu\Init.con with notepad

Change:

game.setLoadPicture Load/Eastern.tga

To:

game.setLoadPicture ../../bf1942/levels/MAP_NAME/menu/load.tga

Below that now add the line:

game.setServerInfoIcon ../../bf1942/levels/MAP_NAME/menu/serverInfo.dds

Also take this time to change the text:

game.setMultiplayerBriefingObjectives "SOME TEXT HERE"

Which is the mission text you see after the map has loaded.

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Compiling your map back to an RFA:

For this I used the tool MakeRFA-GUI, available from

http://www.inicia.es/de/lorenmarti/GUI_Setup.exe

Install and Run MakeRFA

Point it to the START of your extracted map, which will a folder called 'bf1942'.

Make sure you double click on the 'bf1942' folder so that it expands to reveal the folder 'levels' otherwise you will compile the folder above and your RFA will not work.

Choose 'Make RFA' and save the file with your map name.
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Thats it ! Your done

Now move the new RFA into your interstate mod and try it out.

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[ Edited ]