🚀 Getting started
Three things make up the FMJ mapping kit: MED v2, Nile 1.6 TEST6 and the FMJ onHook DLL. Here is what each one is for, where to get it, and how to install it so the TAC updater does not overwrite it.
What you need
| Tool | Current build | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| MED v2 (JOTACmed) | TEST16 | The 2D map editor: objects, waypoints, events, tiles, Map Colours, and Nile projects straight into MED. |
| Nile 1.6 (OM's) | TEST6 | The 3D mission editor: place things in 3D, build events, and change colours during a match with the colour actions. |
| FMJ onHook DLL | in testing | Goes in the game folder of the server and of each player. It is what makes the map colours show up in game. Without it a map with colours simply looks normal. |
You can make maps with colours right now. The colours are saved in your map files and appear by themselves once the server and players have the DLL, with no re-save. Nothing breaks on a normal Joint Ops install.
Install MED v2
- Download JOTACmed_v2_solid_TEST16.exe (the full change notes list every fix).
- Put it in your Joint Ops folder under its own name, for example
JOTACmed_v2.exe. - Start it the same way you start your normal MED (same shortcut, pointed at the new exe).
Do not copy it over JOTACmed.exe. The TAC updater replaces JOTACmed.exe every time it runs, so your new MED would vanish at the next update.
Older MED versions open maps made with v2 without complaint, but they do not know about Map Colours: if an older MED saves the map, the colours are dropped. Keep everyone working on a map on the same MED.
Install Nile 1.6 TEST6
- You need OM's Nile 1.6 installed already (NovaHQ, "Missions Editor (by OM)").
- Download Nile16_colours_TEST6.zip.
- Back up your
Nile.exe,gobj.dll,misldr.dllandevent_data.xml. - Copy the four files from the zip over them.
A map that uses the new colour actions should be opened in TEST6 from then on: older Nile does not know those actions.
The FMJ onHook DLL
The DLL is a replacement binkw32.dll that loads with the game. For map colours it does three jobs:
- reads the colours MED saved in the map and keeps them on screen instead of letting the day/night cycle paint over them;
- lets the colour commands in a WAC script (and Nile's colour actions) reach every player, not just the server;
- sends the current colours to anyone who joins late (within 30 seconds).
It has to be on the server and on each player's PC. It is being tested on the FMJ server now; when it is ready for everyone it will be announced in TAC Mappers HQ and this page will link it.
Where to ask
TAC Mappers HQ on Discord: #med-requests and #nile-requests for ideas and bugs, #sysdumps for crash files (MED and Nile both write a .dmp file next to the exe when they crash, and tell you where).