What We Can Do So Far:
-Replace the retail ingame.mvs with one containing your custom moive. Note, this will remove all the retail movies and is not shippable with your mod map.
-Play any custom movie in the shell from any file through a modified shell
Steps For Replacing ingame.mvs:
Hidden/Spoiler:
Tools Needed:
-BF2_ModTools
-RAD's Bink Compressor
Assumptions:
-You are using the English version of the game
-You already have done some SWBF2 modding
-You have the hard drive space for video files
Steps:
1) Download and install RAD's Blink Compressor
2) Create the video you want in a format supported by RAD (RAD supports a lot of formats)
3) Run 'RAD Video Tools'
3a) Select your media file (polmon01.avi for this example)
3b) Click 'Bink it!'
3b1) Pick the video settings you want
3b2) Click 'Bink' to convert the media file to .bik
3b3) You should now have a file called polmon01.bik
3c) Not required but for fun, you can smack it a few times too.
3d) Close 'RAD Video Tools'
4) Create a new Conquest mod map called MOV
5) Copy "BF2_ModTools\assets\Shell" to "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\"
6) Create the folder "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Shell\movies\us"
7) Copy polmon01.bik into your new folder "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Shell\movies\us"
8) Edit "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Shell\movies\PC\ingame.mlst"
8a) Delete everything inside the file
8b) Add the following text: ..\..\Shell\Movies\us\polmon01.bik
9) Edit "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Common\scripts\MOV\MOVg_con.lua"
9a) Add "ScriptCB_PlayInGameMovie("ingame.mvs","polmon01")" on a line by itself after "function ScriptPostLoad()"
10) Open VisualMunge for our map MOV
10a) Check 'Common'
10b) Check 'Shell'
10c) Click 'Munge'
10d) Ignore any 'Unable to write movie data' errors for everthing but "..\..\Shell\movies\PC\ingame.mlst"
11) IMPORTANT: Backup "GameData\DATA\_LVL_PC\MOVIES\ingame.mvs"
11a) You can do this however you want. I normally copy it to 'ingame.mvs.org'
12) Copy "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\_LVL_PC\Movies\ingame.mvs" to "GameData\DATA\_LVL_PC\MOVIES\ingame.mvs" replacing the existing retail file
13) Run SWBF2
14) Play your MOVg_con map
14a) Your custom movie should be displayed right after the loading screen
15) Exit the game
-BF2_ModTools
-RAD's Bink Compressor
Assumptions:
-You are using the English version of the game
-You already have done some SWBF2 modding
-You have the hard drive space for video files
Steps:
1) Download and install RAD's Blink Compressor
2) Create the video you want in a format supported by RAD (RAD supports a lot of formats)
3) Run 'RAD Video Tools'
3a) Select your media file (polmon01.avi for this example)
3b) Click 'Bink it!'
3b1) Pick the video settings you want
3b2) Click 'Bink' to convert the media file to .bik
3b3) You should now have a file called polmon01.bik
3c) Not required but for fun, you can smack it a few times too.
3d) Close 'RAD Video Tools'
4) Create a new Conquest mod map called MOV
5) Copy "BF2_ModTools\assets\Shell" to "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\"
6) Create the folder "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Shell\movies\us"
7) Copy polmon01.bik into your new folder "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Shell\movies\us"
8) Edit "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Shell\movies\PC\ingame.mlst"
8a) Delete everything inside the file
8b) Add the following text: ..\..\Shell\Movies\us\polmon01.bik
9) Edit "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\Common\scripts\MOV\MOVg_con.lua"
9a) Add "ScriptCB_PlayInGameMovie("ingame.mvs","polmon01")" on a line by itself after "function ScriptPostLoad()"
10) Open VisualMunge for our map MOV
10a) Check 'Common'
10b) Check 'Shell'
10c) Click 'Munge'
10d) Ignore any 'Unable to write movie data' errors for everthing but "..\..\Shell\movies\PC\ingame.mlst"
11) IMPORTANT: Backup "GameData\DATA\_LVL_PC\MOVIES\ingame.mvs"
11a) You can do this however you want. I normally copy it to 'ingame.mvs.org'
12) Copy "BF2_ModTools\data_MOV\_LVL_PC\Movies\ingame.mvs" to "GameData\DATA\_LVL_PC\MOVIES\ingame.mvs" replacing the existing retail file
13) Run SWBF2
14) Play your MOVg_con map
14a) Your custom movie should be displayed right after the loading screen
15) Exit the game
Hidden/Spoiler:
Video Suggestions:
-Keep it short
-Keep its file size small
-There is no audio, so don't include any
-Don't expect any viewers to be able to read any ingame text
-The video will be displayed in a box of 150 by 150 (pixels?)
-There is a one second fade in and a one second fade out. If you do not want the fading, use 'preview-loop' instead of 'preview'
-The video loops until another map is selected
-If you can create the two video formats, both pre-movie.mvs and pre-moviepal.mvs should be used
Tools Needed:
-A video recorder such as Fraps, XFire, webcam, etc...
-RAD Game Tools: http://www.radgametools.com/binkhcwb.htm
-Optionally the FC Mod (for Freecam): http://www.gametoast.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5808
Assumptions:
1) You have SWBF2 and its mod tools installed
2) You have done some modding before and you sort-of know what you are doing
3) You know how to pick your own video capture/recorder tool
4) You have a map you want to add a preview video to (this example uses a map named PVE, so whenever you see PVE or pve, replace it with your map's code)
5) Your map has had its 'Common' munged at least once
6) You are not using the PAL version of the game. If you are, pre-movie.mvs should be pre-moviepal.mvs. I think that is the only change (can't test it as don't have the PAL version).
7) You have the Custom Era shell installed or a mod which includes it installed.
Setup:
1) Have SWBF2 installed
2) Have the SWBF2 mod tools installed
4) Install RAD Game Tools
Create the video:
1) Start Battlefront and load your map
2) Start your video capture tool and create whatever video you want to make
Convert the video:
0) Note: the following values are only suggested values. They may be changed for each video. The goal is to make the video as small as possible without losing too much graphically quality
1) Open the RAD Video Tools
2) Select your video and click 'Bink it!'
3) Set 'Compress to data rate (bytes)' to 750000
4) Select the radio button 'multiple of the overall data rate:' and use 3.0
5) Set 'Scaling compression' to 'No scalling'
6) Set 'How many frames to preview during bandwidth allocation' to 12
7) Set the width to 150 and the height to 150
8) Set the contrast to 8
9) Set the 'Smooth %' to 3
10) Check 'De-interlace'
11) When you are done changing the settings, click 'Blink' to convert your video
12) Wait for the tool to finish converting your video.
Munge the video:
1) Move and rename your bik video to data_PVE/Shell/movies/PC/preview.bik
2) Create a movie list text file called pre-movie.mlst in /data_PVE/Shell/movies/PC. When munged, this file will turn into the pre-movie.mvs, which contains your preview movie embedded inside.
3) In pre-movie.mlst, type in the path to your video. Example: ..\..\Shell\movies\PC\preview.bik
4) Optional step (prevents a munge error): Create shell.req in data_PVE/Shell
5) Optional step (prevents a munge error): In shell.req, add:
ucft{}
6) Run VisualMunge for you map
7) Click 'Unselect All'
8) Check 'Shell'
9) Click 'Munge'
10) When the munge has finished, you will find your new pre-movie.mvs in data_PVE/_LVL_PC/Movies
Add the video:
1) Pick a location for your movie file. It can be placed anywere, but the recommended location is GameData/addon/PVE/data/_LVL_PC/movies
2) Copy your munged video (pre-movie.mvs) to this location
3) Open the addme.lua (data_PVE/addme/addme.lua) file from your mod map
4) Around line 23 is the line that you edit to change your map's game modes. Edit this line to include the movie file, the movie name, and 'dnldable = 1' (dnldable is optional). An expanded example is shown below. Its important to note that the 'movieFile' does include the file name of the video, but does not include its '.mvs' extension or the 'pal' part for PAL users. Also, the 'movieName' is the name you used in movies.mcfg's MovieProperties() Name variable:[code]sp_missionselect_listbox_contents[sp_n+1] = {
movieFile = "..\\..\\addon\\PVE\\data\\_LVL_PC\\TMP\\movies\\pre-movie",
movieName = "preview",
dnldable = 1,
isModLevel = 1,
mapluafile = "PVE%s_%s",
era_c = 1,
mode_con_g = 1,
}
mp_n = table.getn(mp_missionselect_listbox_contents)
mp_missionselect_listbox_contents[mp_n+1] = sp_missionselect_listbox_contents[sp_n+1][/code]
5) Run VisualMunge for you map
6) Click 'Unselect All'
7) Click 'Munge'
Viewing your video in SWBF2
1) Start the game
2) Go to the IA or MP map selection screen
3) Click on your map
4) Watch the preview video box for your video
-Keep it short
-Keep its file size small
-There is no audio, so don't include any
-Don't expect any viewers to be able to read any ingame text
-The video will be displayed in a box of 150 by 150 (pixels?)
-There is a one second fade in and a one second fade out. If you do not want the fading, use 'preview-loop' instead of 'preview'
-The video loops until another map is selected
-If you can create the two video formats, both pre-movie.mvs and pre-moviepal.mvs should be used
Tools Needed:
-A video recorder such as Fraps, XFire, webcam, etc...
-RAD Game Tools: http://www.radgametools.com/binkhcwb.htm
-Optionally the FC Mod (for Freecam): http://www.gametoast.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5808
Assumptions:
1) You have SWBF2 and its mod tools installed
2) You have done some modding before and you sort-of know what you are doing
3) You know how to pick your own video capture/recorder tool
4) You have a map you want to add a preview video to (this example uses a map named PVE, so whenever you see PVE or pve, replace it with your map's code)
5) Your map has had its 'Common' munged at least once
6) You are not using the PAL version of the game. If you are, pre-movie.mvs should be pre-moviepal.mvs. I think that is the only change (can't test it as don't have the PAL version).
7) You have the Custom Era shell installed or a mod which includes it installed.
Setup:
1) Have SWBF2 installed
2) Have the SWBF2 mod tools installed
4) Install RAD Game Tools
Create the video:
1) Start Battlefront and load your map
2) Start your video capture tool and create whatever video you want to make
Convert the video:
0) Note: the following values are only suggested values. They may be changed for each video. The goal is to make the video as small as possible without losing too much graphically quality
1) Open the RAD Video Tools
2) Select your video and click 'Bink it!'
3) Set 'Compress to data rate (bytes)' to 750000
4) Select the radio button 'multiple of the overall data rate:' and use 3.0
5) Set 'Scaling compression' to 'No scalling'
6) Set 'How many frames to preview during bandwidth allocation' to 12
7) Set the width to 150 and the height to 150
8) Set the contrast to 8
9) Set the 'Smooth %' to 3
10) Check 'De-interlace'
11) When you are done changing the settings, click 'Blink' to convert your video
12) Wait for the tool to finish converting your video.
Munge the video:
1) Move and rename your bik video to data_PVE/Shell/movies/PC/preview.bik
2) Create a movie list text file called pre-movie.mlst in /data_PVE/Shell/movies/PC. When munged, this file will turn into the pre-movie.mvs, which contains your preview movie embedded inside.
3) In pre-movie.mlst, type in the path to your video. Example: ..\..\Shell\movies\PC\preview.bik
4) Optional step (prevents a munge error): Create shell.req in data_PVE/Shell
5) Optional step (prevents a munge error): In shell.req, add:
ucft{}
6) Run VisualMunge for you map
7) Click 'Unselect All'
8) Check 'Shell'
9) Click 'Munge'
10) When the munge has finished, you will find your new pre-movie.mvs in data_PVE/_LVL_PC/Movies
Add the video:
1) Pick a location for your movie file. It can be placed anywere, but the recommended location is GameData/addon/PVE/data/_LVL_PC/movies
2) Copy your munged video (pre-movie.mvs) to this location
3) Open the addme.lua (data_PVE/addme/addme.lua) file from your mod map
4) Around line 23 is the line that you edit to change your map's game modes. Edit this line to include the movie file, the movie name, and 'dnldable = 1' (dnldable is optional). An expanded example is shown below. Its important to note that the 'movieFile' does include the file name of the video, but does not include its '.mvs' extension or the 'pal' part for PAL users. Also, the 'movieName' is the name you used in movies.mcfg's MovieProperties() Name variable:[code]sp_missionselect_listbox_contents[sp_n+1] = {
movieFile = "..\\..\\addon\\PVE\\data\\_LVL_PC\\TMP\\movies\\pre-movie",
movieName = "preview",
dnldable = 1,
isModLevel = 1,
mapluafile = "PVE%s_%s",
era_c = 1,
mode_con_g = 1,
}
mp_n = table.getn(mp_missionselect_listbox_contents)
mp_missionselect_listbox_contents[mp_n+1] = sp_missionselect_listbox_contents[sp_n+1][/code]
5) Run VisualMunge for you map
6) Click 'Unselect All'
7) Click 'Munge'
Viewing your video in SWBF2
1) Start the game
2) Go to the IA or MP map selection screen
3) Click on your map
4) Watch the preview video box for your video
Hidden/Spoiler:
1) Setup a mod map for shell editing
2) Add in the lua changes for the map selection screens' video loading sections
3) Pick a name for the movie file (pre-movie.mvs) and pick the names for the embedded movies (preview and preview-loop)
4) Edit the movie configuration file at data_CUS/Shell/movies/PC/shell_movies.mcf to include:[code]MovieProperties()
{
Name("preview");
Inherit("flythrough_template");
Movie("pre-movie");
SegmentList()
{
Segment("preview", 1.0, -1);
}
}
MovieProperties()
{
Name("preview-loop");
Movie("pre-movie");
FadeInTime(0.0);
FadeOutTime(0.0);
SegmentList()
{
Segment("preview-loop", 1.0, -1);
}
}[/code]5) Munge a new shell and replace the game's shell with the new one
2) Add in the lua changes for the map selection screens' video loading sections
3) Pick a name for the movie file (pre-movie.mvs) and pick the names for the embedded movies (preview and preview-loop)
4) Edit the movie configuration file at data_CUS/Shell/movies/PC/shell_movies.mcf to include:[code]MovieProperties()
{
Name("preview");
Inherit("flythrough_template");
Movie("pre-movie");
SegmentList()
{
Segment("preview", 1.0, -1);
}
}
MovieProperties()
{
Name("preview-loop");
Movie("pre-movie");
FadeInTime(0.0);
FadeOutTime(0.0);
SegmentList()
{
Segment("preview-loop", 1.0, -1);
}
}[/code]5) Munge a new shell and replace the game's shell with the new one
SWBF1 - FlyBy Movie
New Movies Tutorial
File Extensions (best guesses):
.bik - Movie file format for SWBF2
.mcfg - Movie Configuration File
.mlst - Movie File List
.req - Files required for VisualMunge
mcfg
Hidden/Spoiler:
[code]MovieProperties()
{
Name("preview");
Inherit("flythrough_template");
Movie("pre-movie");
SegmentList()
{
Segment("preview", 1.0, -1);
}
}[/code]Name - the name of the movie
Inherit - a MovieProperties template normally defining fade in/out times
Movie - the movie file the named movie is embedded in
SegmentList - a listing of the movie's segments
Segment - exact usage is unknown - maybe the different movies in the mlst file (don't think so)?
// - Comments out a line in the mcfg file
{
Name("preview");
Inherit("flythrough_template");
Movie("pre-movie");
SegmentList()
{
Segment("preview", 1.0, -1);
}
}[/code]Name - the name of the movie
Inherit - a MovieProperties template normally defining fade in/out times
Movie - the movie file the named movie is embedded in
SegmentList - a listing of the movie's segments
Segment - exact usage is unknown - maybe the different movies in the mlst file (don't think so)?
// - Comments out a line in the mcfg file
xxxmon01 - Map entering video (xxx is map's ID)
xxxmon02 - Map exiting video (xxx is map's ID)
Folders of Interest:
data_MOV\Shell\movies
data_MOV\Shell\movies\PC
data_MOV\Common\mission
data_MOV\_LVL_PC\Movies
REQs of Interest:
shell.req
inshell.req
mission.req
ingame.req? (has the script game_interface)
)
I really need to get more into hex editing
). I lost the exact changes required when I lost the v1.3 source code. However someone could redo them by modifying the shell through an addme.lua or a cGC script. I don't have time for that.
Gee, if only there were some sort of documentation for the 1.3 patch that people would actually read that explained how to do so... 
