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How to create briefing/debriefing text for a ATF mission
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This document explains how to create, for your own missions, the text that
appears on the briefing and debriefing screens.

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Filenames
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All the briefing and debriefing text is contained in one file.  This file also
contains the mission description that appears when this mission is listed in
the Fly Single Mission screen.  This file is called the "mission text" file,
or MT file.

When you save a mission, you give it a filename (for example, GROUND).  The MT
file you create for this mission must have the same name, but with an
extension of ".MT."  For example, "GROUND.MT."

Before you save your mission in the Pro Mission Creator, you should also bring
up the "Set screens..." dialog (in the "World" menu), and toggle the "Briefing
Paper Screen" option to "on."

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Sample File
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Here is a short example of an MT file.  Its contents are explained below.
This file is included on the ATF CD as EXAMPLE.MT.

.section 1
01
CARRIER  STRIKE  (FRANCE)
Single Player Mission
.section 2
.center
.underline
.header
CARRIER  STRIKE
..underline

.left
.body
BOURNEMOUTH AIRBASE
DATE :  May 12
LOCAL  TIME :  1100
WEATHER :  Cloudy

.header
MISSION OBJECTIVE
..underline
.body
A French Clemenceau aircraft carrier was the object of an earlier attack. Your mission is to finish off the aircraft carrier with anti-ship missiles. British AV-8B Harriers and Belgian F-16s will provide air cover. Expect heavy air opposition.

.underline
.header
THREAT SUPPRESSION DATA
..underline
.body
GROUND  OPPOSITION :  SAMs from enemy Type 69 frigates

AIR  OPPOSITION :  Possible Rafales, Mirage 2000s, Mirage F-1s
.section 3
.center .underline .header
DEBRIEF
..underline

.left
.body
BOURNEMOUTH AIRBASE
DATE :  May 12
MISSION :  Carrier Strike
RESOLUTION :  Success

Congratulations, you successfully destroyed the Clemenceau.
.section 4
.center .underline .header
DEBRIEF
..underline

.left
.body
BOURNEMOUTH AIRBASE
DATE :  May 12
MISSION :  Carrier Strike
RESOLUTION :  Failure

You failed to complete your objectives.

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Formatting Commands
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As you can see, this file contains actual text to be printed, and some other
text that is NOT printed.  The other text contains the formatting commands for
the file.  A formatting command is some word that starts with one or two
periods (.).  For example:

	.left
	.section 4
	.bold
	..underline

These commands are explained individually below.

Many commands have shorter forms for convenience, especially if they're used
often.  These forms are given in parentheses after the standard form.
For example:

	.bold (^b)

This means that ".bold" and "^b" are equivalent.  Use whichever you prefer.

For clarity, we usually put formatting commands on separate lines.  However,
you can put multiple formatting commands on the same line, or intersperse them
with the printed text.  However, formatting commands must be separated from
other text, and from each other, by spaces or carriage returns.  For example:

	.bold.underline

This won't work, because the ".bold" and ".underline" commands run into each
other.  Separate them by a space:

	.bold .underline

Another example:

	This is .underline IMPORTANT ..underline, so pay attention.

In this case, the "..underline" needs to be separated from the comma that
follows it, so insert a space there:

	This is .underline IMPORTANT ..underline , so pay attention.

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Printed Text
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Before we list all the formatting commands, here are a few notes about the
rest of the text in the file.

Word-wrapping is done automatically by ATF, to fit the space the text is
printed in.  In other words, you should only insert a carriage return at the
end of each PARAGRAPH, not at the end of each LINE.  An easy way to do this
is to use a word processor to create the text, then save the file in
"text only" or "DOS text" format.

You can, of course, create the text using the DOS EDIT program, or any other
text editor, but the text will probably run off the screen to the right,
making it difficult to edit.

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Section Command
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This command consists of ".section" followed by a number.  It divides the text
into sections.  Each section has a particular meaning to ATF:

	.section 1
		The title that's printed for this mission on the
		Fly Single Mission screen.

		NOTE: After you have given your mission a title, the Fly Single
		Mission screen will list your mission alphabetized by its TITLE,
		and not by its FILENAME, which is how a mission is listed when it
		has no title.  For example, if your mission filename is FOO:

			- if it has no title, it'll be shown in the alphabetized list
				as "FOO." (ie, listed under "F")
			- if you have created an MT file for it, and given it the title
				"My Mission," it'll be shown in the list as "My Mission."
				(ie, listed under "M")

	.section 2
		The "briefing text," which is shown to the player before he 
		starts the mission.  It explains the mission goals.

	.section 3
		The "success debriefing text."  It's shown to the player after 
		the mission is over, if he achieved all of the mission's goals.

	.section 4
		The "failure debriefing text."  It's shown to the player after 
		the mission is over, if he failed to achieve all of the 
		mission's goals.

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Text Size Commands
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These commands set the text font:

	.title (^t)
		Very large text.
	.header (^h)
		Large text.  Used for the mission title, for example.
	.body (^y)
		Small text.  Used for the mission description, etc.

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Text Style Commands
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These commands set the style of the text.

Not all of these commands have an effect on every text font, since we didn't
include every combination of style in every text font.

	.bold (^b)
		Turn on boldface.
	..bold (^^b)
		Turn off boldface.
	.italic
		Turn on italics.
	..italic
		Turn off italics.
	.underline (^u)
		Turn on underline.
	..underline (^^u)
		Turn off underline.

Boldface and italic styles cannot be combined.

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Paragraph formatting commands
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	.left
		Print text left-justified.
	.right
		Print text right-justified.
	.center
		Print text centered.
	.full
		Print text full-justified (ie, flush with both the left and 
		right margins).

	.indent_left
		Must be followed by a number (eg, ".indent_left 15).  Sets the 
		indent from the left margin, in pixels.
	.indent_right
		Must be followed by a number (eg, ".indent_right 15).  Sets 
		the indent from the right margin, in pixels.
	.indent_off
		Resets the left and right indents to zero, which means "no 
		indent."

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Other commands
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	.page
		Insert a page-break (ie, end the current page here).
	.sound
		Must be followed by a filename (eg, ".sound FOO").  This 
		specifies a digitized sound file to be played when this text 
		is displayed.  The extension ".5K" is automatically added to 
		the filename (this example would play "FOO.5K").  This file is 
		a "raw" sound file containing 8-bit values sampled at 5120 hz.

