TSHv3 Manual - Fixed Features p1
On this page:
NAVFLIR capability with the ATFLIR
Unified Landpal file and mission-linked terrain textures
SA-13 and SA-15 mission builder description corrections
How Landpal and Tile files worked previous to TSHv3
Jane's F/A-18 .til files are compressed land/sea textures made in indexed 8-bit color format. This color format enables the use of a maximum of 256 predefined colors. The colors are called from Landpal.pcx, an external color pallete, when terrain is rendered within the game.
The Ncape.til file contains the North Cape textures, while the iraq.til file contains Iraq textures. Because TSHv2 does not modify ncape.til, a separate landpal.pcx file was needed for use in the Iraq Theater.
How Landpal and Tile files work now in TSHv3
TSHv3 uses a unified Landpal; this means that the same landpal.pcx file can be used regardless of whether the North Cape or Iraq theater is active. The structure of the THSv3 landpal.pcx, ncape.til, and iraq.til files have been rearranged so that the colors placed from locations 0-127 are used by the iraq.til file when the Iraq terrain is enabled, and the locations from 128-256 are used by the ncape.til file when the North Cape terrain is enabled. If modifiying the TSHv3 landpal, this must be taken into consideration. Old modified landpal files will be incompatible with the new .til files and cannot be used properly with TSHV3.
 |  |  |
Mission-linked Terrain Textures
In addition to the unified landpal, TSHv3 introduces mission-linked terrain textures. This means that a mission can be saved so that it uses a terrain texture other than landpal.pcx; one of up to 99 additional terrain textures can be used. These files are called landp01.pcx through landp99.pcx, should be developed using the unified format, and should be placed in the /Ncape and /iraq folders.
In addition to the default generic terrain textures for the North Cape and Iraq, TSHv3 includes seven textures per theater designed to depict specific seasons. In reality the North Cape has more varied seasons than Middle East, and this is reflected in the textures. The textures are as follows:
Linking Textures to Specific Missions
A new parameter Type of Terrain has been added to the Environment section of the mission builder. This parameter can be used to link the mission to one of 99 different landpXX.pcx files. Missions created prior to TSHv3 and missions that use "00" as the parameter value will use the landpal.pcx file as the terrain texture, ensuring TSHv3 compatibility with all existing missions. This also means that missions not created with specific terrain textures will use the generic texture for each theater. Missions that use "01" through "99" as the parameter value will use the landpXX.pcx file, where "XX" is the parameter value. For example, inputing "05" as the parameter value and saving the mission would result in a Late Autumn terrain when the mission is loaded, because landp05.pcx is the Late Autumn unified landpal file. Inputing "08" as the parameter value and saving the mission would result in one of two things happening:
1. If landp08.pcx exists in the \Ncape or \Iraq folders, depending on the mission, that terrain would be present when the mission is loaded. Landp08.pcx is not a file included with TSHv3.
2. If landp08.pcx does not exist, the terrain will revert to landpal.pcx (the generic terrain).
There are 7 unified landpXX.pcx files included with TSHv3, with capability to use 92 more. If more landpXX.pcx files are created, the list of existing files and what type of terrain they correspond with should be included in readme_terrain.txt; a template for this readme is included with TSHv3. The most up-to-date version of this readme file should be distributed with each released landpXX.pcx file, similar to the way the most up-to-date ctexte.cmp file is distributed with each released Jane's F/A-18 campaign. TSH plans to release unified landpal files equivalent to existing popular North Cape terrain modifications (i.e. Balkans, Terrakola, etc.). Look for an announcement regarding these files soon.
