- Content

- Disclaimer

- Supported Versions

- Installation

- Using the Editor

• Basic Settings
• Additional Settings
• Files
  

- Using JA2SME for a Mod

- Problems and limitations

- Credits

README.HTM
JA2SME.EXE
SME_ADD.DAT
SME_BASIC.DAT
SME_MAP.BMP
SME_MINE.DAT
SME_PATCH.DAT
SME_UPATCH.DAT

The only files, that are important for you, are this file (readme.htm) and ja2sme.exe.
All the other files are data files used by the program and that you shouldn't touch.

Content

• Disclaimer
• Supported Versions
  A list of all versions of JA2, that this program will work with
• Installation
  How to install JA2 Strategic Map Editor
• Using the Editor
  This chapter is the most important one. In three lections all the functions and buttons of the editor are explained. You should really read this carefully.
• Using JA2SME for a Mod
  A short overview of what files to include, if you want to use JA2SME for a Mod, that should be released to public.
• Problems and limitations
  There a few things, that the editor would let you do, but that will cause trouble to the game. So better read this chapter.
• Credits

Disclaimer

This program is freeware. You may copy it as long as the files which are listed above remain intact and unmodified 
and are distributed together.

The author won't take responsibility for any damage or harm caused by this program.

Supported Versions

JA2SME supports the following version of JA2:

• v.1.02 german
• v.1.05 german
• v.1.06 us
• v.1.07 us
• v.0.95 german beta

Installation

Installation is quite simple: Extract all the files in the zip to a directory of your choice. Just make sure, that all the files listed under Version Information are in the same directory.
Run ja2sme.exe to use the program.

When JA2SME is started it will try to load the map image from data\interface\b_map.pcx. If that file cannot be found a default image will be used.
You can run JA2SME with some command line parameters:

Usage: ja2sme.exe [-exe dir\file.exe] [-bin dir\file.bin] [-pcx dir\file.pcx]

where file must be an existing .exe, .bin or .pcx file
and dir is an absolute or relative path to the file that you want to load. If the file is in the same directory as ja2sme.exe you can leave out the dir setting.
All parameters in [ ] are optional.
If there are blanks in the path to the file, you must enclose the whole path with " ".

Using the Editor

• Basic Settings
  
  1) Enable additional settings: Activate this, if you have made changes to the traveltimes and enemy numbers in the 'Additional Settings' panel. The Additional settings are not saved in ja2.exe, but in an external file. If this option is checked, JA2 will load the additional settings from this file. Please note, that the file with the additional settings must be named 'map.bin' and copied to your JA2 data folder. Otherwise JA2 will not load the data.
  
  
  
  2) Editing Enemy Settings: JA2 does not support having enemies in every sector, but it uses a list with enemy settings for several maps. Some of those list entries are used for more than one sector. 
  Choose one of those entries from the list to edit the enemy settings for that sector(s). You will notice, that there are a few entries marked as 'UNKNOWN'. The truth is, that i don't know for what sectors this data is used. Try to find out yourself or don't touch those settings, if you are afraid to destroy game balance.
  Each of those list entires has six attributes. I am not sure about all of those attributes: Some depend on game progress and difficulty level, so it is hard to check.
  
  Attack prob.: The probability, how often Deidranna's army will try to conquer sectors, that you have taken.
  
  % of black (red, yellow) shirts: How many of the enemies in the sector are black, red or yellow ones. This seems to depend on game progress and difficulty level as well.
  
  Reinforcement: This number seems to point to another sector of maybe patrol, from where the reinforcements are sent. I don't know, what numbers are allowed here.
  
  # of enemies: The number of enemies in that sector. The real number will depend on difficulty level and maybe game progress.
  
  Most of these settings here are a little experimental, because i don't know the exact meaning of all the values myself. However, i had good results by setting '# of enemies' and the '% of black, red, yellow shirts' to zero and keeping the 'attack probability' and 'reinforcement' as they are. For exact enemy settings it is the best to edit the enemy numbers in the 'Additional settings' panel.
  
  
  
  
  3) Editing Mines:  You can edit all the 6 mines of JA2. Each of them hast 3 attributes:
  
  Sector of course is the sector on the map, where the mine should appear. Just click on the map to choose a new sector for the selected mine.
  
  City is the town, that the mine belongs to. So mine income will depend on the loyality of this city. Note, that the sector of the mine does not have to be part of the city, that the mine belongs to. 
  JA2 randomly places one of the head miners in the mine sector. So make sure, that they all appear in your map. The editor will let you link a mine to any of the town, but not all cities make sense. Mines, that are linked to a town, that has no loyalty, like Estoni for example will never produce anything.
  
  Income is the money, that your mine will produce per day running at about 12%. Setting income to 0 will result in an abandoned mine like San Mona.
  
  
  
  
  
• Additional Settings
  
  The additional settings are the sector types, travel times and enemy settings for every sector. These things are not saved to ja2.exe, but another file. Because of this a normal ja2.exe won't use the data. You have to check the 'Enable Additional Settings'-box in the 'Basic Settings' panel and save to a ja2.exe to use it.
  As you might have noticed, JA2 is not supposed to have enemies (except the patrols of course) in every  sector. The enemy numbers, that you enter here are only a workaround: You can place enemies in all the sectors, but their number will be always the same, no matter if you are playing on novice or expert level.
  For further details you should check Problems and limitations.
  
  To select a secto to edit just click on the map. The current sector is displayed on the top of the 'Additional Settings' panel.
  
  1) Type of current sector: This information is used for the sector name, that is displayed under the Radarmap.
  
  2) Type of way: This information is used for the travel times. 'Type of way (north)' is the way in northern direction and so on. Under the map you can find a summary of the sectors, that border your current sector. 
  
  3) # of enemies: Just what it says: The number of enemies for that sector. Refer to Problems and limitations for a short overview of things you shouldn't do.
  
  
  
  
• Files
  
  Save All: Saves both, the general and the additional settings. If you have already opened a file, the data will be saved to that file, otherwise you will be prompted to enter a filename.
  
  Last Session: Every time you exit JA2SME, the program will save the files, that were opened. By hitting the 'Last Session' button JA2SME will load the data from this files again. (This will overwrite your current changes!)
  
  Load Map: If you have modifed the picture of the strategic map (b_map.pcx), this button lets you load your new map. Any picture, that can be loaded by JA2, should work (714x612, 256 colors). The image will be stretched to 473x405 pixels. If the quality is too bad, maybe it helps to resize the image in a graphic program.
  
  Default Map: Loads the image of the strategic map, that is used by JA2.
  
  Basic Settings: The two text fields show the path and the version information of the ja2.exe you are actually working with.
  Open: Load data for basic settings from JA2.
  Load Defaults: Reset basic settings to defaults (the settings used by an unmodified version of JA2)
  Save: Save the basic settings to the ja2.exe that you are actually working with.
  Save As: Select a ja2.exe to save the basic settings.
  
  Additional Settings: The buttons are similar to the 'Basic Settings' buttons. The text field displays the path to the file, that you are working with.
  Open: Load data for basic settings from a *.bin file.
  Load Defaults: Reset additional settings to defaults (the settings used by an unmodified version of JA2)
  Save: Save the additional settings to the bin-file that you are actually working with.
  Save As: Select a bin-file to save the additional settings.
  
  
  

Using JA2SME for a Mod

Using the changes, that you made with JA2SME, for a Mod is pretty simple: Just open the ja2.exe of your choice, edit the needed values and save your settings. If you want to use the additional settings as well, make sure to check the 'Enable additional settings'-box. Save your additional settings to a bin-file.
IMPORTANT: JA2SME can handle various bin-files with different names. If ja2.exe should load data from one of these files, you must copy it to your ja2\data directory and rename it to map.bin. This is very important, because otherwise the additional settings won't be loaded.

So, if you want to make your changes public, don't forget to include your modified ja2.exe and data\map.bin

Problems and limitations

There are a few things, that JA2SME would let you do, but that will cause trouble to the game:

• First and most important: Editing the number of enemies under 'Additional Settings' with this tool is only a workaround. For that reason there will be no difference on what difficulty level the game is played, the number of enemies will be always the same.
• If you place enemies for a sector with basic and additional settings, JA2 will overrun your additional settings with the basic settings for those specific sector in some cases. In other cases JA2 will add the two numbers. So be careful with that. If JA2 overruns your additional settings, you should only use one, either basic or additional enemy settings, and set the other values to zero.
• There MUST be enemies in sector A9. So either place at least one in your basic or additional settings.
• It never worked for me to activate an impassable sector. You can try, but the game will probably crash. So you can only alter the type of sectors, that are passable in JA2.
• JA2SME only lets you edit the data of the top-level sectors. You cannot change the information of the sub-levels yet.
  

Probably there will be other things, that might cause strange results or will cause the game to crash. Find out yourself...

Credits

Author: Azrael

Thanks to Bimbo and Emrep for their research and support.

This program was created during the development of the JA2 Mod Urban Chaos.
Additional thanks go out to the whole ModSquad and all the UC Beta testers, that checked the functionality of this program by working on Urban Chaos.