Special Thanks to David Lovejoy (dlovejoy@nucleus.com) for providing the character bitmaps from the PC version of the font.
THE FONT
"Katarn PDA" is a fixed-size 9-point bitmapped font like the one used in mission briefings in Dark Forces. With this font, you can create official-looking briefing graphics to accompany the add-on missions you create.
This is not a professional job -- I just put it together in ResEdit, altering the Helvetica 9 bitmap font file. The ID number is arbitrary so I'm sorry if there's a conflict with another font you may have. If your System has trouble recognizing the font, make sure you move your only copy of the font file into the Fonts folder rather than copying it -- I had to do this to get it to work on my Mac.
The font is meant to be used at 9-point size only. This is the size used in DF. It looks bigger when you play because DF graphics are actually very low-res but are enlarged and smoothed when shown in the game.
Please don't ask me about other sizes of this font or TrueType/PostScript versions, because as far as I know they don't exist.
DARK FORCES BRIEFINGS
The briefings of the game’s original missions are stored in the DFBRIEF.LFD file in the Dark Forces Data/Cutscenes folder. Currently there is no program for the Mac that can convert graphics to and from the .LFD format. The only way to do it is to use DF editing programs written for MS-DOS, such as the BMPDF package found on many DF websites. What this means for most Mac DF level builders is that you can use this font to design briefings for your missions, then find some nice person who's into PC DF to convert your graphics to .LFDs for you.
To help you, I've included converted versions of all the briefing graphics from the original game. They are in .PCX format, which can be read by Photoshop and GraphicCoverter. You will have to use GraphicConverter to adjust the resolution to 72 dpi (uncheck "convert" in the resolution dialog) and the size to 100% to make them look normal. Photoshop doesn't deal with this font well, so you'll want to use another graphics program to create your briefing text (I like Canvas 3.5.4). I've included a PICT-format template that should work in most graphics programs -- you can create your text in this, save your work as a bitmap, then use Photoshop or GraphicConverter to crop and combine your text bitmap(s) with other graphics you want to use. It's important to preserve the color palette used in the original .PCX files, so don't lose it during your editing process. I'm not giving lessons on graphics editing, but basically, if you end up with new .PCX (or .BMP) files that are the same as the DF originals in pixel width and color palette and look pretty much the same in design, you're in good shape.
One more bit of advice about briefings: it's a good idea to have the text of your briefings proofread by friends with good writing skills and Star Wars knowledge. You've put a lot of work into your level, and now you're going to the extra trouble of making a briefing, so you don't want typos and other errors distracting players from all your hard work.
FINISHING THE JOB
When you're done, you'll want to convert your graphic to .PCX format and use GraphicConverter to set its resolution and size to the weird values the original DF .PCX files have.
Once you've completed your new .PCX file, you have to find someone to convert it to a DF DELT resource and put it in an .LFD for you. I'll might do it for you if I have time, so you can e-mail me about it and ask. Otherwise, you'll have to either find someone who’s into BMPDF or other DF-conversion programs on MS-DOS, or get SoftPC/SoftWindows and set up your Mac to run them. (I recommend SoftPC Pro 3.1 -- it's clunkier than SoftWindows but has less overhead, and it will run, albeit slowly, on a PPC Mac.)
Of course, to make the briefing work in the mission, your GOB will need a properly written BRIEFING.LST file in it. This DF spec stuff and is too much to explain here. If you figured out how to do .INF files you can figure this out. :)
ICING ON THE CAKE
Once you've created a briefing, you may want your mission to have two other cool features: one is a Star Wars-style opening text crawl, and another is an "OBJ" screen the player can check during the mission (many people designing missions are unpleasantly surprised to learn that the OBJ text is entirely different graphics from the Mission Objectives in the briefing). Both of these are doable but are whole separate projects. Again, I can help you with these if I have time.
Good luck with your levels, and I look forward to playing them!
