------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ~ D A R K F O R C E S : M I S S I O N F R E E B I R D ~ ------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ LOADING: ======== Unzip FREEBIRD.ZIP into your Dark Forces (DF) directory and start DF. Just select mission 1 (Secret Base), and you'll go to FREEBIRD. How this works is no matter how you have DF installed, it will first look in its home directory for new levels replacing old ones. For instance a level replacing the Secret Base will be called SECBASE.* (*=one of many files... a level is made up of a couple of files, each describing a different area). So you un- zip Freebird, all the SECBASE.* files will be there and you have a new level 1! You want the old one back? Delete all SECBASE files from the directory! This will NOT harm the game files in any way! If you have more than one new level that replaces a same exsisting level, you can only have 1 set of SECBASE files at a time so either back up the older one in a zip file, or rename all the SECBASE files something else before installing the new level (i.e. REN SECBASE.* BACKUP.*). TIME FRAME: =========== 10 days prior General Solo's mission to Endor MISSION: ======== We need you to steal both an un-marked Imperial Shuttle, and the authentication codes that will allow our Endor Strike team to get through the orbiting Star Destroyers, attack the force-field generator on the planets surface and disable the generator protecting the new Death Star. A civilian source tells us that we can find just such a shuttle at a nearby Imperial Special Forces base on the planet Torellia (also orbits Tana, like the planet Endor does). Our source tells us that a wall of the facilities waste/sewage system joins a wall of an interior storage closet. A detonator or a mine should get you access to the facility. From here, locate first the access code-card, and then the shuttle launch bay and return here with the ship. Jan will fly in low and drop you in a holding pond in the sewers. Our original source left some weapons hidden in the sewers. Sadly, the source hasn't been heard from in two weeks, and the weapon caches might be compromised... so be carefull! We believe the facility is fully manned and in a high state of alert and planning to attack our forces in the near future. DEVELOPER'S NOTES: ================== Written the night of release: Ok, I've play tested all 3 difficulty levels, and let me tell you - 2 & 3 are deffinatly tough! If you can't handle a Dark Trooper, stick to EASY! I added alot of last minute ammo and health due to the difficulty I had created.... so its do-able! Had to figure out a few things the editor can't do yet like lock doors and end the mission at the right moment (it was a pain, but I think I got it working). NOTE: when you pick up the "Death Star Plans" you are really picking up the "Codes" for the shuttle. IF (it shouldn't happen) you get to the shuttle, AND you have the key, AND it doesn't say MISSION COMPLETE... exit on your own... you're done! Of course at diff level 2 and 3 you may be too busy to see the MISSION COMPLETE message.. =) PLEASE send me feedback at Metal Teck on how this plays out, and encourage me to make more!!!!!! =========================================================================== MISSION NAME: M I S S I O N: F R E E B I R D MISSION CREATOR: David Vitter (Impact Software) EMAIL ADDRESS: METAL TECK BBS (1-505-479-6497) DATE CREATED: JUNE 1995 LEVEL REPLACED: SECRET BASE (LEVEL 1) DIFFICULTIES: Easy, Med and Hard Levels supported NEW LEVEL: YES! ENTIRELY NEW!!! NEW SOUNDS: NO NEW GRAPHICS: NO NEW WEAPONS: NO NEW MONSTERS: NO NEW MUSIC: NO =========================================================================== *future designers can use above as outline for their descriptions* NEW STUFF: ========== Future levels by me WILL include new Sounds, Graphics, weapons and monsters (all thanks to DFUSE which lets you edit all of these!). I believe the music is changable too.... we only need to figure out what they used to create the .AMD music files used in DF. EDITOR: ======= Thanks so much to Yves Borckmans for creating DFUSE! I used his first version, 09, available at any decent BBS (see below). Although ver 09 is not perfected, it is pretty close to it and its MUCH easier to use than DEU or DOOMCAD (so all you Doom-caders make some DF levels now!) I had been trying to make my own editor but it was just too tuff! BTW: programs I've made for DF= DF-Command (level Randomizer, bad-guy remover), DF-Zap (warp to any level, take screen shots) and DF-Map (view level maps). DF-Map was the result of my attempt to create an editor... which I gave up and put out as- is. I also made a bunch of Doom/Heretic stuff (like SUPER ZAP), all of which can be found at My/Impact Software's home bbs Metal Teck at 1-505-479-6497. You can also e-mail me there with comments, praise or ideas. MORE HISTORY: ============= So far this is only the 2nd new level I've seen (the first came out BEFORE DFUSE.... I have no idea how he made it! Its called DON*.* something). Of course Dark Forces is an excellent game... if you play with the editor some you'll see how much further Lucas Arts went beyond Doom in making this fine game! SADLY of course is the fact it only has 14 levels... hence the HUGE NEED for others like myself to create new levels. Lucas Arts made it very easy for us to create new mods (even easier than Doom!)... and its very obvious to this creator that LA left the door WIDE open for them to release later add-on episodes, and I wouldn't be surprised to see tons more NEW features in the new missions (there are a bunch of flags used in the game that exsist but are unused in the first 14 mission... telling me that they saved a few punches for later!) Cool.... I'm an old Star Wars fan, and I'll be trying to tie my missions in with real historical events of the series (to include the novels recently released). Other future TO DO's: create a new weapon (I think a light-saber or vibro- blade is needed), new baddis (there sadly aren't enough in the game... and tons possible baddies to be added in!), new sounds (I won't ruin the game by adding goofy sounds like your Doom/Simpsons type.... but I plan to get a couple of samples outa the movies and add those in just to change it up a bit), and larger levels (already FREEBIRD is bigger than any Doom levels I've made... and I didn't really play with Dark Forces multi-level floor-on- top-of-floor capabilities..... but each project will be bigger and grander than the next!). FINAL THANKS: ============= Hope you enjoy it, and if you read all the above stuff.... you must truely be a Star Wars freak! Thanks! - Super Dave "Hitman" Vitter