Briefings
Foreword
The briefing is an essential part of any mission. If present, it will be automatically shown before the mission starts. The briefing is a simple HTML file in the mission folder. It's named briefing.html.
Sections
The briefing has several parts.
Mission Plan: The Mission Plan is the main part of the briefing. It usually contains a short description of the main mission goal, and then a number of points which should be fulfilled in the mission.
Notes: The Notes section gives the player additional information about the mission. You can specify the mission goal more in more detail, give some hints or add other background information.
Gear: Weapons, ammunition and other items that player can use are shown in the Gear section. This is an automatically generated section, and can be changed by the description.ext file.
Group: This section is also generated automatically, and there’s no way to change it.
Single player briefing
In general, there’s no difference between single player and multiplayer briefings. The main parts are the same - but if you like, your multiplayer briefing can be made a bit richer. Here is a simple example of single player mission briefing. Simply create a file named briefing.html in the folder where your mission is stored, and copy the entire text shown below. Make sure you use a simple “pure text” editor - like Notepad. If you use “large” editors like MS Word or WordPad, use the Save as… / Text (*.txt) function.
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html; charset=windows-1250">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="ofp">
<title>Title</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- "Notes" section >
<! --- ----------------------------->
<h2><a name="Main"></a></h2>
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section.
<br><br>
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes>
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- Missions plan >
<! --- ----------------------------->
<p><a name="plan"></a>
Short description of the mission.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_1"></a>First objective.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_2"></a>Second objective.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of "Plan" section>
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- debriefings --->
<! --- ----------------------------->
<hr>
<br>
<h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End1">Title</a></p></h2>
<br>
<p>
DescriptionEnd1
</p>
<br>
<hr>
<br>
<h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End2">Title</a></p></h2>
<br>
<p>
DescriptionEnd2
</p>
<br>
<! --- end of debriefings --->
</body>
</html>
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Take note of the comments in the text. First of all there’s the “Notes” section. You can replace the “Write some text here…” text with words of your own. Notice that you can add End-of-Line tags with the <br> tag, and you can use links to markers. If this section is longer than the in-game briefing notebook page, it will be automatically divided into additional pages.
The next part is the main “Mission plan”. First of all there is a short description of the mission. Write anything here - this is the first information that player will get about your mission. It should be short, although the space available isn't actually limited. Then you can write the mission objectives - see the section “Using mission plan” below. Now notice that every objective has its own small section. The description of the objective should be brief and clear.
The last part of the briefing is the debriefing. You can have up to six endings in your mission, and all of them need their own debriefing. Simply choose the appropriate section (there are “End1” and “End2” sections in the example above), change the “Title” and instead of “DescriptionEnd1” add your own description of the ending. Again, the space for this isn't limited. If you want more endings, just create additional appropriate sections in the debriefing. An “End3” example follows:
<br>
<h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End3">Title</a></p></h2>
<br>
<p>
DescriptionEnd3
</p>
<br>
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Briefing for more sides
You can use exactly the same briefing in multiplayer missions, but you could meet the problem that all players have the same briefing. This is OK for cooperative missions, but you may not want it for team vs. team missions - so it’s possible to have special briefings for all sides in Operation Flashpoint. See the example below:
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
content="text/html; charset=windows-1250">
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="ofp">
<title>Title</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- "Notes" sections per sides >
<! --- ----------------------------->
<h2><a name="Main.west"></a></h2>
<! --- "Notes" section for WEST>
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section and only Western soldiers will see it.
<br><br>
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes for WEST>
<h2><a name="Main.east"></a></h2>
<! --- "Notes" section for EAST>
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section and only Eastern soldiers will see it.
<br><br>
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes for EAST>
<h2><a name="Main.guerrila"></a></h2>
<! --- "Notes" section for RESISTANCE>
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section and only Resistance soldiers will see it.
<br><br>
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes for RESISTANCE>
<h2><a name="Main.civilian"></a></h2>
<! --- "Notes" section for CIVILIANS>
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section and only civilians will see it.
<br><br>
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes for CIVILIANS>
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- Missions plans >
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- "Plan" section for WEST>
<p><a name="plan.west"></a>
Short description of the mission for the Western side.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_WEST_1"></a>First objective for the West.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_WEST_2"></a>Second objective for the West.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of "Plan" section for WEST>
<! --- "Plan" section for EAST>
<p><a name="plan.east"></a>
Short description of the mission for the Eastern side.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_EAST_1"></a>First objective for the East.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_EAST_2"></a>Second objective for the East.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of "Plan" section for EAST>
<! --- "Plan" section for RESISTANCE>
<p><a name="plan.guerrila"></a>
Short description of the mission for the Resistance.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_GUERRILA_1"></a>First objective for the Resistance.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_GUERRILA_2"></a>Second objective for the Resistance.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of "Plan" section for RESISTANCE>
<! --- "Plan" section for CIVILIANS>
<p><a name="plan.civilian"></a>
Short description of the mission for civilians.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_CIVILIAN_1"></a>First objective for civilians.
</p>
<hr>
<p><a name = "OBJ_CIVILIAN_2"></a>Second objective for civilians.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of "Plan" section for CIVILIANS>
<! --- end of mission plan>
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- debriefings --->
<! --- ----------------------------->
<hr>
<br>
<h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End1">Title</a></p></h2>
<br>
<p>
DescriptionEnd1
</p>
<br>
<hr>
<br>
<h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End2">Title</a></p></h2>
<br>
<p>
DescriptionEnd2
</p>
<br>
<! --- end of debriefings --->
</body>
</html>
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As before, all sections are commented so you should be able to see where to add your own text. Notice that every side has its own sections. Of course, only sides that will be taken by human players must have briefings - the AI doesn't need any briefing text. If there is no section for a side and there is a player on that side, the general briefing section (with no side specified) will be displayed. If there is no such section, that side will have no briefing, just an empty notebook.
Using the mission plan
The mission plan is the only interactive part of the mission briefing - you can change it from within the mission at any time.
You can have as many objectives in the mission plan as you want, but every objective has to have its own small section. The name of the section is “OBJ_ID”, where ID is an arbitrary identification of the objective - but it's recommended to use numbers. (For example, the first objective should be “OBJ_1”, the second “OBJ_2”, and so on.)
You can change the status of an objective any time by using objStatus function. Just write “ID” objStatus “Status” in a script or trigger. ID is objective's ID; Status can be Active (visible objective), Hidden (invisible objective), Failed (failed objective) or Done (objective completed). When the player is in Cadet mode and you change status of any objective to Done, the message “Objective completed” appears. If you change it to any other type, the message on the screen will be “Mission plan updated”.
Example: You have an objective like this:
<p><a name = "OBJ_2"></a>Defeat the enemy.
</p>
<hr>
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When you call function “2” objStatus “Done”, the objective will be ticked, and while playing in cadet mode, the message “Objective completed” will appear. In this picture you can see an active objective, a ticked objective and a failed one.
You can also hide or show objectives - simply use “Hidden” to hide, and any other status to show. If you hide objectives in the init script (the script named init.sqs in the mission folder), the objectives will be hidden before the mission starts, so players will not see them in their initial pre-mission briefing.
Other possibilities
Markers: You can add marker links in your briefing. Take a look at this line from the example above:
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
In this code, “MarkerName” is the name of the marker in your mission. The text in the tag (“links” in this case) will be in different color - and if the player clicks on it, the screen will center to the marker (named “MarkerName”).
Hypertext links: If you want, you can create your own sections in the briefing, as here:
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- "Notes" section >
<! --- ----------------------------->
<h2><a name="Main"></a></h2>
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section.
<br><br>
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
<br>
You can also use <a href="#MySection">your own section</a> in the briefing.
</p>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes>
<h2><a name="MySection">Section name</a></h2>
<p>
This is the new section of the briefing.
<br><br><br>
<a href="#Main">Link back</a>
</p>
<hr>
<! --- ----------------------------->
<! --- Missions plan >
<! --- ----------------------------->
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As you can see, you have to create a new section in HTML code. It begins with a name (<a name=”…”>) and ends with <hr>. This tag has special meaning in OFP, it divides the parts (sections) of the briefing. In this example, “your own section” is the link to the section; “Section name” is the headline. (This can be empty - try this: <a name="MySection"></a> </h2>.)
Pictures: Pictures are nice. And you can easily add them to your briefings, simply by using this tag:
<p align="center"><img src="PictureName.jpg" width="128" height="64"></p>
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Let's talk about this tag a bit. “PictureName.jpg” is the name of your picture. It has to be in the correct mission folder. Its maximum resolution is 256x256 pixels, and both width and height have to be a power of two (i.e. both sides have to be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 pixels). “Width” and “Height” are the new width and height of the picture; that is, how it will be seen on the screen (you can shrink the picture to make it sharper by using different height and width values to those that the picture actually have). “Align” determines if the picture is centered or not. You can set it as “left”, “right” or “center”.
Note: Using the .JPG format is not possible in the first (1.00) European version of the game. And in versions 1.10 and 1.20, the JPG cannot be saved as “Progressive”. If you have version 1.00, download the latest Upgrade from our web page.
Languages: If you make a multi-language mission, you can make additional briefings for more languages. For example, write the German briefing and save it as Briefing.German.html - this briefing will be used for German version. Note that if the appropriate briefing for a language is not found, the general Briefing.html is used; so it's good idea to have one general (usually English) briefing as Briefing.html (although Briefing.English.html is also possible). You never know which language the player has set. For the European and US versions of the game, you can use the following languages: "English", "Spanish", "French", "German" and "Italian". It's also possible to create briefings for some other languages (currently Polish and Czech; in the near future perhaps Russian and Korean as well). But you should always create one "universal" English briefing named briefing.html, because this will make sure your mission will be compatible with all version of the game installed worldwide.
Font types: You can use various fonts in the briefing. Notice the <p> and </p> tags before and after any text - if you replace them with “headline” tags, the text will be in a different format. A list of tags follows:
- Large headline - <h1>
- Small headline - <h2>
- Normal text - <p> or <h3>
- Smaller text - <h4>
- Book text style - <h5>
- Hand written text - <h6>
Example:
<p>
Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section. It will be normal text.
</p>
<h2>
This text will be somewhat larger.
</h2>
<h6>
And this is hand-written text.
</h6>
<hr>
<! --- End of Notes>
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© 2001 Bohemia Interactive Studio and The Codemasters Software Company Limited ("Codemasters"). All rights reserved. "Codemasters"® is a registered trademark of Codemasters. "GENIUS AT PLAY"™ and "Operation Flashpoint"™ are trademarks of Codemasters. Developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio. Published by Codemasters. All other copyrights or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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(Breifings)
