|Briefing.html is obsolete in Arma3. For mission briefing use Create Diary Record and Create Task modules, BIS_fnc_setTask function and createDiaryRecord command. For debriefing, see the new debriefing configuration.|
Briefing.html is a simple HTML file located in the mission folder. You have to create this file manually, and the file will be loaded automatically when the mission begins. For SP missions and campaigns, the briefing.html is accompanied with the overview.html.
The briefing is broken into 4 main sections:
To preview your briefing whilst in the editor, hold SHIFT while clicking 'preview'.
The Briefing Notes section gives the player additional information about the mission. You can specify the mission goal in more detail, give some hints or add other background information. In multi player missions the Notes section is seen exactly the same regardless of side.
Plan and Objectives
The Briefing Plan section of the Briefing.html is used as a formal introduction to your mission. The mission plan is the only interactive part of the mission briefing - you can change it from within the mission at any time.
You can have as many objectives in the mission plan as you want, but every objective has to have its own small section. The name of the section is "OBJ_ID", where ID is an arbitrary identification of the objective - but it's recommended to use numbers. (For example, the first objective should be "OBJ_1", the second "OBJ_2", etc.)
You can change the status of an objective any time by using objStatus function. Just write "ID" objStatus "Status" in a script or trigger. ID is objective's ID; Status can be Active (visible objective), Hidden (invisible objective), Failed (failed objective) or Done (completed objective). When the player is in Cadet mode and you change status of any objective to Done, the message "Objective completed" appears. If you change it to any other type, the message on the screen will be "Mission plan updated".
The last part of the briefing is the debriefing. You can have up to six endings in your mission and all of them need their own debriefing. Simply choose the appropriate section (there are "End1" and "End2" sections in the example below), change the "Title" and write your own description of the ending. Again, the space for this isn't limited. Mission endings are controlled by choosing appropriate trigger type (End #1, End #2, etc.).
<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1250"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <! --- -----------------------------> <! --- Notes ---> <! --- -----------------------------> <h2><a name="Main"></a></h2> <p> Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section. <br><br> You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too. When the player clicks on it, the map will center to the marker. </p> <hr> <! --- End of Notes ---> <! --- -----------------------------> <! --- Missions plan ---> <! --- -----------------------------> <p><a name="Plan"></a> Short description of the mission. </p> <hr> <p><a name = "OBJ_1"></a>First objective. </p> <hr> <p><a name = "OBJ_2"></a>Second objective. </p> <hr> <! --- End of Missions plan ---> <! --- -----------------------------> <! --- Debriefings ---> <! --- -----------------------------> <hr> <br> <h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End1">Title</a></p></h2> <br> <p> Write description of End1 here. </p> <br> <hr> <br> <h2><p><a name="Debriefing:End2">Title</a></p></h2> <br> <p> Write description of End2 here. </p> <br> <! --- End of Debriefings ---> </body> </html>
The original BIS style briefings employ a small amount of information on the mission to be played, giving the player only the most basic of intelligence needed to complete his task. The BIS notes section usually takes the form of a diary entry and whilst these methods are certainly an accepted in the community, there is another way to write your briefings.
The advanced briefing takes writing and presenting a briefing to a whole new level. Using links and pictures you can create a much more detailed and aesthetically pleasing effect which will allow you to share with the player, as much information as you wish. Multiple pages will allow you to present different portions of your briefing in an orderly fashion. For example, you may wish to break your briefing down into phases such as:
- Sitrep (Situation Report)
- Friendly Forces
- Enemy Forces
With various links this is easily achievable.
Additionally you can define some sounds for the briefing in the CfgSounds section of the description.ext file, and activate them at the top of the description file using:
onBriefingGear="SoundName" onBriefingPlan="SoundName" onBriefingGroup="SoundName"
You can add marker links in your briefing. Take a look at this line from the example above:
You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too.
In this code, "MarkerName" is the name of the marker in your mission. The text in the tag ("links" in this case) will be in different color - and if the player clicks on it, the screen will center to the marker (named "MarkerName").
If you want, you can create your own sections in the briefing, as here:
<! --- -----------------------------> <! --- Notes section ---> <! --- -----------------------------> <h2><a name="Main"></a></h2> <p> Write some text here - it will be in the "Notes" section. <br><br> You can use some <a href="marker:MarkerName">links</a> too. <br> You can also use <a href="#MySection">your own section</a> in the briefing. </p> <hr> <! --- End of Notes ---> <h2><a name="MySection">Section name</a></h2> <p> This is the new section of the briefing. <br><br><br> <a href="#Main">Link back</a> </p> <hr> <! --- -----------------------------> <! --- Missions plan ---> <! --- ----------------------------->
As you can see, you have to create a new section in HTML code. It begins with a name (<a name="…">) and ends with <hr>. This tag has special meaning in OFP, it divides the sections of the briefing. In this example, "your own section" is the link to the section; "Section name" is the headline. (This can be empty - try this: <a name="MySection"></a> </h2>.)
Pictures can be added to your briefings, simply by using this img-tag:
<p align="center"><img src="PictureName.jpg" width="128" height="64"></p>
In this example "PictureName.jpg" is the name of your picture. It has to be in the correct mission folder. Its maximum resolution is 256x256 pixels, and both width and height have to be a power of two (i.e. both sides have to be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 or 256 pixels). "Width" and "Height" are the new width and height of the picture; that is, how it will be seen on the screen. "Align" determines if the picture is centered or not. You can set it as "left", "right" or "center".
You can use various fonts in the briefing. Notice the <p> and </p> tags before and after any text - if you replace them with "headline" tags, the text will be in a different format. A list of tags follows:
- Large headline - <h1>
- Small headline - <h2>
- Normal text - <p> or <h3>
- Smaller text - <h4>
- Book text style - <h5>
- Hand written text - <h6>
There is the possibility to make versions of the briefing for other languages. At the moment there is support for: Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish.
The usual file "briefing.html" will be displayed, if no other localized version is available and supports "native" english content only.
To get special characters displayed properly, a localized version of the briefing has to be provided in the mission directory. For example, to use german "Umlaute" (ä,ü,ö, etc.) create a additional "briefing.German.html".
Note: Special characters are not shown in the regular "briefing.html"
ArmA: In order for special characters to be shown in ArmA, you have to save your briefing in UTF-8 (notepad "save under..." options)