Mission Design

To learn the basics of mission editing, there is a tutorial delivered with the flashpoint CD, an online version of this tutorial can be viewed here.

This article will illustrate the possibilities of the Flashpoint mission editor and it's engine, and how to start.

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mission components

A mission is comprised of multiple files, and optionally compressed into a .PBO file.

Upon un-PBOíng a mission you will see all files used in missions. the files used in missions are:

mission.sqm:
This file contains (in order) the required addons, the position and information of all units, the triggers ("sensors") , waypoints, markers, and misc. information.

briefing.html:
the briefing contains the text stored in the "notebook", The mission plan, objective, and notes of the mission. For more information on how to make briefings there are multiple tutorials available.

description.ext(EXTention):
This file contains all sorts of information, ranging from respawn, to different options in multiplayer. selectble anarment (in the "gear" tab of the notebook) can also be arranged here.

.sqs files (SeQence Script)
Scripts are the backbone for creativity. they create, control and monitor all entities in a mission: weather, AI, anarment, smoke and fire effects. With good scripting humans can become zombies and a click on the map will bring a rain of artillery down. to learn about scripting sites like OFPEC exist.

init.sqs:
A mission init.sqs (initialisation script) gets processed before the mission starts. this prevents "laggy" moments ingame, but might take the mission a long time to load.

image files
the briefing can contain pictures in .paa and .pac format, that follow thesame basic rule as textures (*^²). for example, 256X128 pixels. Images can be manually sized to any widh and size using HTML code. Note that if the image is too big, this will ruin the layout of the notebook. for information on adding images refer to a site such as OFPEC.

audio files
Audio files in Flashpoint can be in .Ogg (compressed) , .Wav (uncompressed, but large filesize) , or .WSS (good compression:size ratio) format. The basic rule: more compression means longer time to process before the file gets heard.

video files
No known format of video is supported by OFP.

subfolders
Script, image, and audio files might have been put in seporate folders to keep things clear. but if you decide to put your (example) fire.sqs in a subfolder called "scripts", please note that you will have to use "/scripts/fire.sqs" to call the script. It is advicable to keep the init.sqs away from subfolders.

Creating briefing, sqs, and ext. Briefings, scripts, and description files can be done manually in notepad and saved as filename.customextension.

A good alternative for mission makers is CHris's OFP Script Editor

Mission editor limitations

Great effort has been put into making the mission editor as limitless as possible. however,