MT — Mission Briefing Text (.MT)¶
FA_2.LIB contains 363 .MT files — roughly one per mission. Each stores the
full text content for the pre-mission briefing and post-mission debrief
screens. Format is plain ASCII text using a shared directive/markup engine
with .TXT files.
Tools¶
fx¶
fx mt info <file.MT> # mission id/title/type + section count + round-trip
Parsing rides the shared directive engine in lib/src/txt.cpp (the same
line-preserving parser as TXT); lib/src/mt.cpp adds the
section-1 header semantics. All 363 .MT files in FA_2.LIB round-trip
byte-identically.
File Layout¶
Plain ASCII text, CRLF line endings. Directives begin with . and may be
chained on one line, separated by spaces. Plain text between directives is
rendered in the current active style. Directives may also appear inline within
a content line (e.g. .header TITLE .body renders "TITLE" in header style
then switches to body).
Directives¶
| Directive | Description |
|---|---|
.section <N> |
Begin numbered section (see Section Semantics below) |
.header |
Switch to header render style |
.body |
Switch to body render style |
.center |
Center-align subsequent text |
.left |
Left-align subsequent text |
.underline |
Enable underline |
..underline |
Disable underline (.. prefix deactivates the named directive) |
.page |
Page break within a section — inserts a new screen without starting a new section |
Directives apply until overridden. Alignment and style are independent —
.center .underline .header sets all three simultaneously.
Section Semantics¶
Sections 1–5 are observed across all 363 files:
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mission identifier — plain text line (format: --<ID> (<filename>)) followed by title and mission type |
| 2 | Pre-mission briefing — location, date/time, objectives, threat data |
| 3 | Debrief (primary outcome — typically success for single-player, Blue success for multiplayer) |
| 4 | Debrief (secondary outcome — failure, or Red success for multiplayer) |
| 5 | Debrief (draw / objectives incomplete) |
Most single-player missions use sections 1–4. Multiplayer and some campaign missions use all 5.
Section 1 ID Line¶
The first content line of section 1 follows the format:
--<MISSIONID> (<filename>)
e.g. --AB01 (bextra01). The -- prefix is the engine's cue (inferred) to
parse this line as the mission ID rather than display text.
Example — BEXTRA01.MT (complete section 2)¶
.section 2
.center .underline .header
WEAPONS FREE
..underline .left .body
TARTU AIRBASE
DATE : February 22
LOCAL TIME : 1200
WEATHER : Cloudy
.header .underline
MISSION OBJECTIVE
..underline .body
Destroy all guerrilla structures and vehicles in the area.
.header .underline
THREAT SUPPRESSION DATA
..underline .body
GROUND OPPOSITION : Shoulder-launched SAMs
AIR OPPOSITION : Possible U.N Rafales, Mirage 2000s
Related¶
Formats: M — .M mission files that reference these briefing
texts by filename; TXT — uses the same directive engine; adds
.button and .picture for UI screens.