Edit.EXE and you

Fraxy's boss editor is a quite powerful tool, enabling you to create a wide variety of enemies, in both form AND function. Here, I will do a section-by-section, button-by-button run-down of the various functions in the editor.

 

 

The Toolbar

 

FILE

Save

 

Save current enemy as a FTD file. You have 2 options, save all data, and save minimum data. The second one results in slightly smaller file sizes, however, since FED files are typically tiny to begin with, it doesn't make a huge difference.

 

 

Load

 

 

"Open file" deletes your current creation, and loads the selected creation. If you have made any changes, you will be prompted, allowing you to cancel and save them before loading.

 

"Open file and paste to selective parts" takes the enemy you select from the menu, and attaches it to the part currently selected on your present creation. A good way to create a ship that has "helpers" which it deploys, is to use this function on "Joint Detach" parts, or "Deploy cores", or on a part you intend for the player to destroy.

 

VIEW

Center

 

Centers the view on the edit window. To shift the view off-center, right-click in the edit window and drag the background around.

 

Grid

 

Display a grid. Useful for ensuring that parts are lined up, or equally distant, or other things.

 

Mouse

 

Display the coordinates of the mouse, in the edit window.

 

Info

 

Display the MoveAct and AttackAct scripts for the currently selected part. When the editor is in demo mode, it will show where in the script it is currently playing. VERY useful for gaining a better understanding of the parts, their functions, and the differences between otherwise identical ones.

 

Object

 

Play

 

Engages the demonstration, showing how the ship will move. For the purposes of parts that home to or aim at the player, the player is considered to be stationary at 0,0 - The center of the edit area.

 

Stop

 

Freezes the demonstration, it can be resumed where it left off by hitting play again.

 

Reset

 

Returns the enemy and all it's part-scripts to their starting locations/positions.

 

Rank

 

Input a value, and press the "Set" button to set it. The current set rank determines the behaviour of the demonstration. Check various levels to ensure that your creation is an interesting and engaging fight at all ranks.

 

The Edit Window

Main Tab

 

 

Event Tab

 

The Event Tab allows parts to be event driven, so creating multi-form creations became fully possible.

 

The first thing you'll see when you click the tab is the Event Box. Here you'll see all the events of that part starting with Event 0.

 

Add

 

Adds a new event.

 

Del

 

Deletes selected event.

 

Up

 

Promotes event so it can execute earlier.

 

Down

 

Demotes an event so it will execute later.

 

Once you create/select an event, a new section will appear where you show the trigger of the event and what happens. A pulldown menu will show what you can make as criteria.

 

Condition Section

 

Here you can set up to 3 criteria that will trigger the event. Many of them allow you to change the value and the comparing sign.

 

None - Zeros out the section.

 

Always - Event will always be triggered.

 

Destroyed - Triggers when part is destroyed.

 

Stun - Triggers when part is stunned.

 

Not Stun - Triggers when part is not stunned.

 

Movement(ON) - Triggers when part is active.

 

Movement(OFF) - Triggers when part is inactive.

 

Durability - Triggers when part reaches given durability.

 

Durability(%) - Triggers when part reaches given durability %.

 

Rank - Triggers when part reaches given rank.

 

Move Action - Triggers when part reaches given Move Act.

 

Move Frame - Triggers when part reaches given Move frame.

 

Attack Action - Triggers when part reaches given Attack Act.

 

Attack Frame - Triggers when part reaches given Attack frame.

 

Distance - Triggers when part is a given distance from the player.

 

Variable# - Triggers when part reaches the value for Variable #. (There can be 4 Variables)

 

Action Section

 

Here you can set up to 4 actions that will occur when the event is triggered. Many of them allow you to change the value and the comparing sign.

Also you can allow other parts to be affected.

 

None - Zeros out the section.

 

Variable - Allows you to add, subtract, multiply, divide, substitute, and combine (?) the value of any variable based on a part.

 

Destroy - Destroys given part.

 

Suicide - Self-destructs given part.

 

Delete - Phases out given part.

 

Detach - Detaches given part.

 

Change Rank - Allows you to change the rank of given part.

 

Stop Movement - Makes given part inactive.

 

Play Movement - Makes given part active.

 

Stop Movement During Specified Frame - Makes given part inactive after given frame.

 

Move Action - Allows the Move Act to stop, play, stop after given frame, change the Move Act, and change the Move frame.

 

Attack Action - Allows the Attack Act to stop, play, stop after given frame, change the Attack Act, and change the Attack frame.

 

After Execution

 

 

Clicking this will not delete the event after it is executed.

 

Option Tab