Tutorial : HOW TO USE THE BRIEFING ICONS --------------------------------------------- 1 : The Briefing icons in Freespace2 ------------------------------------- In Freespace 2 there are exactly 35 categories, like FIGHTER , FIGHTER WING , CARGO, CAPITAL SHIP , and so on. For each category there are exactly 3 icon slots. Terran, Vasudan and Shivan, even for ASTEROID and PLANET icon categories. The TERRAN and the VASUDAN icons always appear GREEN , the shivan icons are RED. So, that means in fact we can have EXACTLY 70 green and 35 RED icons , no matter what they are. 2 : How we wanted to fill these slots --------------------------- 2.1 - Why no FRIEND OR FOE -------------------------- In Babylon 5 we have SEVERAL races. The humans, the minbari , the cenatauri , the narn , the drazi , the vree , the Brakiri ....... Depending on what campaign you are playing specific ships of the races can be either friendly or hostile. So , If we use green and red as FRIEND-OR-FOE color in the briefings just as FS2 did that would mean we could have only 35 different icons. We have enough FRIENDLY slots but only 35 FOE slots and that is not enough to make a friendly and a foe icon for each vessel. 2.2 - tactical symbols and Race symbols --------------------------------------- Then we had the idea to use tactical symbols instead of icons for individual ships. So , we created icons for FIGHTER , BOMBER , SHUTTLE CLASS , TRANSPORT , CAPITAL SHIP , CARRIER and SPACE STATION . With only 7 icons we could have them as well in green as in red with the friend-or-foe method . On the other side this made the briefings VERY unspectacular. 3 : The final solution ----------------------- In the end , we did it like this. It was the only way to assure we can have icons for individual vessels , tactical symbols and even race logos. COLOR : The color is NO IFF-code. We have individual icons for all possible vessels that are SHUTTLE class and above . All green. And for fighters and bombers we use tactical symbols. And just to make sure we have tactical symbols for all possible vessels. We have RACE LOGOS as well. They use the 35 shivan slots which means they are all RED. How to make a briefing : ------------------------ 1. You can place the following icons : - a green ship icon for a SPECIFIC VESSEL, we have them for most of the bigger ships - a green tactical symbol instead . Indicating the CLASS of the ship it represents. may be a FIGHTER icon , a BOMBER , a CAPITAL SHIP ... and so on. - a red race logo as icon. We have icons for most of the races and even for some organizations like the PSI CORPS. 2. When you know what icon you want to place you have to look into the README file that came with the briefing icons. Take a look at it now. Lets say you want to place a NOVA icon. NOVA is the first entry ( = terran slot ) of the FREIGHTER_NO_CARGO icon category. The second entry is the Octurion. So, to place the NOVA icon in FRED 2 in the briefing editor you have to select FREIGHTER ( no cargo ) under ICON IMAGE . Then in SHIP type you have to select a vessel that is registered as a TERRAN craft ( no matter what one ). Note : In FS2 the crafts have a default race. For example the Merc is a terran craft and would produce the NOVA icon. If you pick a Vasudan craft you will get the OCTURION icon. - For unknown reasons when SELECTED the icon is shown as the NEXT one in the list. However , when you click somewhere on the screen it is shown correct, as in FS2. We don't know why this occurs, but it is a FRED2-bug only. - As said before each vessel has to be declared as a TERRAN , a VASUDAN or a SHIVAN craft. The important thing with the default race defined is the ENGINE GLOW ingame. Each race has unique color for the engine glow of its vessels. We thought of doing it that way : TERRAN : white engine glow VASUDAN : yellow engine glow SHIVAN : red engine glow. So , the default race of our Babylon 5 craft will depend on what color the engine glow is supposed to have. For example , the starfury will be a TERRAN craft. The ATMOSPHERIC SHUTTLE will have default race VASUDAN ( yellow enine glow , look at CRUSADE series ) and the EA Thunderbolt will be declared as a SHIVAN craft ( red engine glow ) So , back to the briefing icons. Lets practice it. Lets say you want the icon of the ASIMOV luxury liner. Then you have to select icon category FIGHTER and a TERRAN craft ( = a craft you know has DEFAULT RACE : TERRAN ) - For the minbari logo : category CARGO_WING and default race SHIVAN - For the G'Quan icon: category CAPITAL and default race VASUDAN Any questions ?