Problem with campaign/mission thumbnails and maps

**Vanquisher** · 29 Jul 2010, 10:19 AM

Bump.

How do I define those files?

**Alsehr** · 11 Aug 2010, 09:33 AM

To define those files, you ought to make an addon folder for your campaign. You should name the addon after your campaign and not an individual map. To make images/objective minimaps, I don't see any other way aside from making an addon folder. For example:

My addon is called Meat Locker.
So here is my folder heirarchy:
Meat Locker 1.0 with folders "maps", "materials" and "resource" in it. I place the map bsp (and vmf file) in the maps folder for convenience. I name my map something relevant. (Like Map1) or similar. Spaces may hinder this process, so try to keep things easy for a computer to read, or you may have to use underscores.

In "materials" I have "vgui".
In "vgui" I have "swarm"
in "swarm" I have "overviews" <- This is where you put your image. Name it the same thing as your map. If your map is named "map1", then name it "map1.vmt" and "map1.vtf". I am assuming because you HAVE these two files that you properly created them in VTFEdit. Just to check, the tutorial did not say to check a few of the flags in VTFEdit.

So open up your image in VTFEdit and make sure to check the following Flags in the left. "Clamp S," "Clamp T" "No Mipmap" and "No Level of Detail". After those are checked, save the map.

Code:

UnlitGeneric
{
$basetexture "VGUI/swarm/Overviews/Map1"
$vertexcolor 1
$vertexalpha 1
$no_fullbright 1
$ignorez 1
}

Here is my example VMT. If you have this all in the proper folder, and named a theoretical "map1", then this is what your VMT will read. Do NOT include filetypes after it. Your game knows what to look for. Map1Briefing.vmt looks exactly the same as Map1.vmt.

Now to associate it with your map.
Go back to the "resource" folder and make "campaigns", and "overviews". Also, your "CustomCampaignCredits.txt" goes here, if you plan on using one. There's an example in the example addon.

In "Overviews" make your map text file. Such as "map1.txt" in my case.

Use your overview information from when you took your screenshots in game,
Here is my "map1.txt"

Code:

GAME
{

    "pos_x"        "-13113"
    "pos_y"        "16572"
    "scale"        "16.0"


"material" "vgui/swarm/Overviews/Map1"
"briefingmaterial" "vgui/swarm/Overviews/Map1Briefing"
"missiontitle" "Iota Minor Shipping"
"description" "IAF has received multiple distress signals from a small shipping and mining outpost on an orbiting planetoid named Iota Minor. After the incident at Jacob's Rest, they're assuming the worst."
"image" "swarm/ObjectivePics/obrydbergreactor"
"author"        "Blue/Alsehr"
"version" "1.0"
"builtin" "1" 
}

You can change the values on the right, but not the left. Also, do not change builtin's value. Save it as map1.txt in resource/overviews, and be careful not to get confused. There is the swarm/overviews for the PICTURE and resource/overviews for the text file.

Go back to resource/campaigns and make your campaign file. My campaign is called Meat Locker, so this file (UNDERSCORE IMPORTANT) is called Meat_Locker.txt If you have TWO WORDS HERE and don't include an underscore, your map will crash to the main title on clicking start!

For the campaign.txt file:

Code:

GAME
{
    "CampaignName" "Meat Locker"
    "CampaignDescription" "IAF has recieved distress calls from a shipping facility on Iota Minor, a small orbital planetoid mainly used for mining and as a hub between larger systems."
    "ChooseCampaignTexture" "swarm/MissionPics/ice"
    // texture used on the campaign screen for the map
    "CampaignTextureName" "swarm/MissionPics/ice"
    
    // these textures are overlaid on top of the campaign map in order
    "CampaignTextureLayer1" "swarm/Campaign/CampaignMap_EmptyLayer"            
    
    // custom campaign credits file
    "CustomCreditsFile"     "resource/CustomCampaignCredits"

    // position of this campaign in the galactic map (coords go from 0 to 1023)
    "GalaxyX"   "660"
    "GalaxyY"   "262"
    
    // searchlights (optional, max of 4)
    // angle: 0 is right, 90 is up, 180 is left, 270 is down
    "Searchlight1X" "217"
    "Searchlight1Y" "860"
    "Searchlight1Angle" "80"
    "Searchlight2X" "263"
    "Searchlight2Y" "751"
    "Searchlight2Angle" "100"
    //"Searchlight3X" "92"
    //"Searchlight3Y" "446"
    //"Searchlight3Angle" "90"
    //"Searchlight4X" "580"
    //"Searchlight4Y" "266"
    //"Searchlight4Angle" "90"
    
    // first mission entry is a dummy for the starting point

    "MISSION"
    {
        "MissionName"        "Entry Port"
        "MapName"        "start_area"
        "LocationX"        "330"
        "LocationY"        "780"
        "DifficultyModifier"     "-2"
        "Links"            "Map1" 
        "LocationDescription"      "Home Base"
        "ShortBriefing"      "Dropship Bloodhound will enter atmosphere at these co-ordinates and proceed to primary objective."
    }

    "MISSION"
    {
        "MissionName"        "Iota Minor Shipping"        // name used on the map screen, etc.
        "MapName"        "Map1"        // name of the map file
        "LocationX"        "525"                // location of the dot on the map
        "LocationY"        "700"                // (from 0 to 1023, on the above texture)
        "ThreatString"         "1"                    
        "Links"            "start_area"    // map names of neighbours
        "LocationDescription"     "Distress signals from this shipping plant have attracted IAFs attention."
        "ShortBriefing"      "An example of interactive objects in Alien Swarm.  Proceed to the exit to gain access to the next mission."
        "AlwaysVisible"        "1"
        "NeedsMoreThanOneMarine" "0"                
    }


}

Make sure not to take out the first "dummy" mission. Change the map links to your map name. If it has two maps (one in front and one behind) then put a comma seperating them. If you want it to require more than one marine, then change that mission's "needsmorethanonemarine" "0" to "1".

For the ADDON picture. You do the same thing you'd do to make a vmt/vtf pair, but put them in a new folder called "missionpics" in the "swarm" folder in your addon. List them in the campaign.txt as "swarm/missionpics/campaignimage" Or whatever you labelled them as. Also, the custom credits file is here. Mine is "resource/CustomCampaignCredits" with the format:

Code:

"Credits"
{
// these keys must be in this order!
"show_credits_logo" "1"
"custom_logo"    "ExampleCustomLogo/example_custom_logo"
"asw_credits_"    ""
"asw_credits_"    "Lead Designer"
"asw_credits_"    "Blue/Alsehr"
"asw_credits_"    ""
"asw_credits_"    ""
}

Now you're wondering how you pack all this shit into your game! Go to your alien swarm folder in steam.
It should be something like this:
C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\alien swarm
Navigate to the bin folder and scroll all the way to a file called "vpk.exe". Right click on it and make a shortcut on your desktop. now you can drag THE ENTIRE addon folder with everything in it, onto the vpk. It will take this folder and make a copy of it in VPK format.

Your VPK should be pre-associated with steam, so that all you have to do to test your map is double click on the addon, to which you should see "Meat Locker 1.0 has been successfully added" or something similar.

I hope this helps you! Tata, Blue/Alsehr

Problem with campaign/mission thumbnails and maps

Problem with campaign/mission thumbnails and maps

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