By
Norb Timpko

Many of the design decisions, though made to increase flexibility, are a little complicated. This article will hopefully explain how the program chooses files from the directory structure.

At the lowest level we have the scenario. Scenario are load by MMG file OR folder, never both. Even if an MMG file and a folder contain the same exact name, they are two seperate scenarios are far as the game is concerned and they will BOTH show up in the custom scenarios menu. The only MMG files that will not show up are the ones found on the 1st Bull Run Screen. These are hardcoded in the game to not display. Any files found in the MMG or the folder will be loaded. They take precidence over any other files located.

At the next level is the main folders. If a needed file is not found in the scenario, then it is looked for in the main folder, the folders in the main directory of the game. If the file is not found here then it is looked for in the CWBR.MMG file.

For example: Let's say the game is loading 1st_Bull_Run.csv and you are loading a scenario folder. This file is located in the maps directory. First it looks to see if you have a maps directory under your scenario folder, then it looks in the main maps folder, next it looks in the CWBR.MMG.

The following folders can exist in your scenario and the files in there will override the files in the main folders or main mmg: Data Files, Graphics, Maps, Sounds, and Text. One minor exception to this rule is that the screen.txt file will add to and replace the strings in the main screen.txt file. So if there is a default string in the main file and you don't want to add it, if you do not place that string in the scenario screen.txt file, it will be retrieved from the main screen.txt file. All of the other files will completely replace their main directory equivalents.

This design allows you to experiment inside a scenario without ever messing up your main directory. Basically any file that you want replaced in a scenario can be placed in your scenario directory matching the structure of the main directory and it will be picked up when that scenario is run. Use the SDK folder to see where all of the csv files are located. The SDK folder contains all of our source csv and txt files that we used to build our MMG files.

When you are finished your scenario, use the WarPack utility to turn it into an MMG file. This is a compressed file format that will zip up all files in your scenario folder. It allows you to distribute your scenarios in an easy compressed one file format.