FreeSpace 2 Mission File Format

.fs2 files are simple text files defining how FS2 will 'execute' a given mission. It refers to external files for the actual assets used in the mission, including Model files and Tables.

General Format

File section headers start with the "#" character. Each file section should be separated by a blank line.

Statements start with either the "$" or "+" characters, and may last for multiple lines. Comments are indicated by ";!", and continue to the end of the line.

STRING refers to a String data. The game parses these from the ":" at the end of the flag it belongs to until the next flag begins.

XSTR is a single XSTR entry, formatted like this: XSTR("Text data", -1) . The "-1" refers to the entry in tstrings.tbl that contains the translated version.

INT is a single integer.

FLOAT is a floating point number, usually used with 6 digits after the decimal point.

SEXP is a symbolic expression or chain of symbolic expressions. Example:

( when
   ( >
      ( distance "Zeta 3" "center:1" )
      2000
   )
   ( send-message
      "#Command"
      "High"
      "msg08"
   )
)

Sections

#Mission Info

Fields:

$Version: STRING

• contains the version number for this mission

$Name: XSTR

• contains the name of this mission. Uses tstrings.tbl for translation.

$Author: STRING

• The author's name

$Created: STRING

• The time and date that this mission was created on. Format is "MM/DD/YY at HH:MI:SS", where MM = Month, DD = Day, YY = Year, HH = Hours (24 hour format), MI = minutes and SS = seconds.

$Notes: STRING

• Contains any notes the mission designer wishes to add.

$End Notes: ??

$Mission Desc: XSTR

• Contains a short description of this mission. Uses tstrings.tbl for translation.

$end_multi_text

+Game Type Flags: INT

+Flags: INT

+NebAwacs: FLOAT

+Storm: STRING

+Red Alert: INT

+Scramble: INT

+Disallow Support: 0 or 1

• Whether or not support ships are available on this mission

+Hull Repair Ceiling: FLOAT

+Subsystem Repair Ceiling: FLOAT

+Player Entry Delay: FLOAT

+Viewer pos: FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

• FRED camera position

+Viewer orient:

       FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT, 
       FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT, 
       FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

• Orientation Matrix for FRED camera

$Starting wing names: LIST of STRINGS

• Wings present at the start of the mission, also used for loadout selection
• LIST defaults to ( "Alpha" "Beta" "Gamma" )
• Maximum size of LIST is three strings
• The first STRING in this list must match the first string in $Team-versus-team wing names:

$Squadron wing names: LIST of STRINGS

• Unknown - need to check further
• LIST defaults to ( "Alpha" "Beta" "Gamma" "Delta" "Epsilon" )

$Team-versus-team wing names: LIST of STRINGS

• Unknown - need to check further
• LIST defaults to ( "Alpha" "Zeta" )
• The first STRING in this list must match the first string in $Starting wing names:

+SquadReassignName: STRING

+SquadReassignLogo: STRING

• Squadron the player is reassigned to

$Skybox Model: STRING

• Which skybox model to use

$AI Profile: STRING

• Which AI profile is used

---

#Fiction Viewer

$File: STRING

• Name of the text file that will be displayed in the fiction viewer. The file needs to be in data/fiction, and interface art for the fiction viewer must be present.

---

#Sexp_variables

$Variables:

---

#Plot Info

$Tour: XSTR

$Pre-Briefing Cutscene: STRING

$Pre-Mission Cutscene: STRING

$Next Mission Success: STRING

$Next Mission Partial: STRING

$Next Mission Failure: STRING

---

#Command Briefing

• Defines the Command Briefing section of the briefing. If no command briefing is required, leave this blank. Stages are defined like this:

$Stage Text: XSTR

• The text to be displayed in this stage

$end_multi_text

$Ani Filename: STRING

• The ani that will be played while the above text is displayed

+Wave Filename: STRING

• The filename of the voiceover

---

#Briefing

• Defines the Mission Briefing. Leaving this blank will cause 'no briefing' to be shown instead of a mission briefing.

Briefing init

$start_briefing

$num_stages: INT

• Number of stages in this briefing. Stages are defined as follows:

$start_stage

$multi_text XSTR

• Briefing text for this stage.

$end_multi_text

$voice: STRING

• Voiceover filename

$camera_pos: FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

• Camera position for this stage

$camera_orient:

           FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT,
           FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT,
           FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT 

• Camera orientation matrix

$camera_time: INT

$num_lines: INT

$num_icons: INT

$Flags: INT

$Formula: SEXP

Icons

• Icons are defined as follows

$start_icon

$type: INT

$team: STRING

• Friendly, Hostile, or Neutral

$class: STRING

• Must be a valid reference to a ship class from ships.tbl

$pos: FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

$label: STRING

+id: INT

$hlight: INT

$mirror: INT

$multi_text

$end_multi_text

$end_icon

---

#Debriefing_info

$num stages: INT

• Number of debriefing stages. Debrief stages are defined as follows

$Formula: SEXP

• Conditions that must be true for the debriefing stage to be shown. Note that several debrief stages may be shown at the same time.

$Multi text

XSTR

$end_multi_text

$Voice: STRING

$Recommendation text: XSTR

$end_multi_text

---

#Alternate Types

$Alt: STRING

• Contains an Alternate type name. This is a list entry; All alternate types used in the mission must appear here. Must be terminated by #end.

---

#Callsigns:

$Callsign: STRING

• Similar to the Alternate Types list. All Callsigns used in the mission must be listed here. Must be terminated by #end.

---

#Players

• Defines the players for the mission. At least one player must be defined.

$Starting Shipname: STRING

$Ship Choices: ( STRING INT )

• The STRING contains the ship class, the INT holds the number of ships available. Can be left blank ( "$Ship choices: ( )" is valid).

+Weaponry Pool: ( STRING INT )

• The STRING contains the weapon name, the INT the number of weapons available. Primary weapons are listed before secondary weapons.

• NOTE: For multiplayer TVT missions, these three items need to be present a second time to define the loadout team 2 gets.

---

#Objects

• Defines all the objects in the mission and their initial state.
• This includes all ships (including the player ships), installations and other objects.
• Does not include asteroid (debris) fields.

$Name: STRING

$Class: STRING

$Alt: STRING

• Alternate class name. Must be defined in the #Alternate Types list above.

$Callsign: STRING

• Optional Callsign. Must be defined in the #Callsigns list above.

$Team: STRING

$Location: FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

$Orientation:

       FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT, 
       FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT, 
       FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

$IFF: STRING

$AI Behavior: STRING

+AI Class: STRING

$AI Goals: ( goals ( SEXP ) )

• SEXP must be from the ai goals list

$Cargo 1: XSTR

+Initial Velocity: INT

+Initial Hull: INT

+Subsystem: STRING

$Arrival Location: STRING

$Arrival Cue: SEXP

$Departure Location: STRING

$Departure Cue: SEXP

$Determination: INT

+Flags: ( STRING )

• Flags must be enclosed by "".

+Respawn priority: INT

+Orders Accepted: INT

• This is a bitfield

+Group: INT

+Score: INT

+Persona Index: INT

---

#Wings

• Defines all wings in the mission, friendly and hostile

$Name: STRING

$Waves: INT

$Wave Threshold: INT

$Special Ship: INT

$Arrival Location: STRING

$Arrival Cue: SEXP

$Departure Location: STRING

$Departure Cue: SEXP

$Ships: ( STRING )

$AI Goals: ( goals ( SEXP ) )

• SEXP must be from the ai goals list

+Hotkey: INT

+Flags: ( STRING )

---

#Events

• The SEXPs that make up the Events List. Events are formatted as follows:

$Formula: SEXP

+Name: STRING

+Repeat Count: INT

+Interval: INT

+Chained: INT

• The INT shows the chain delay in seconds.

+Objective: XSTR

+Team: INT

---

#Goals

• The mission directives. Goals are formatted as follows:

$Type: STRING

• Primary or Secondary

+name: STRING

$MessageNew: XSTR

$end_multi_text

$Formula: SEXP

+No music

+Invalid

---

#Waypoints

$Name: STRING

$List: ( ( FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT ) )

• The list can contain more than one Waypoint, example: ( ( FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT ) ( FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT ) )

---

#Messages

$Name: STRING

$Team: INT

$MessageNew: XSTR

$end_multi_text

+Persona: STRING

+AVI Name: STRING

+Wave Name: STRING

---

#Reinforcements

$Name: STRING

• Name of the wing that is available as reinforcement. That wing needs to have the "reinforcement" flag.

$Type: STRING

$Num times: INT

+Arrival Delay: INT

+No Messages: ( STRING )

+Yes Messages: ( STRING )

---

#Background bitmaps

$Num stars: INT

$Ambient light level: INT

+Neb2: STRING

+Neb2Flags: INT

+Nebula: STRING

• (Optional) HISTORICAL Version 1 nebula, not used in FS2 retail campaign.

• +Color: STRING
  • (Optional) HISTORICAL Version 1 nebula, not used in FS2 retail campaign.
• +Pitch: INT
  • (Optional) HISTORICAL Version 1 nebula, not used in FS2 retail campaign.
• +Bank: INT
  • (Optional) HISTORICAL Version 1 nebula, not used in FS2 retail campaign.
• +Heading: INT
  • (Optional) HISTORICAL Version 1 nebula, not used in FS2 retail campaign.

$Bitmap List:

• Contains all background bitmaps and suns. Sun entries look like this:

$Sun: STRING

$Angles: FLOAT FLOAT FLOAT

• Background nebulae and other objects look like this:

$Starbitmap: STRING

+Angles: FLOAT FLOAT FLOAT

+ScaleX: FLOAT

+ScaleY: FLOAT

+DivX: INT

+DivY: INT

---

#Asteroid Fields

$Density: INT

+Field Type: INT

+Debris Genre: INT

+Field Debris Type: INT

$Average Speed: FLOAT

$Minimum: FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

$Maximum: FLOAT, FLOAT, FLOAT

---

#Music

$Event Music: STRING

$Briefing Music: STRING

---

#End

• The end of the file.