Contents

Create Level Packfile

Create Level Packfile writes the level and the files it uses into a .vpp packfile with the level's name, next to the saved level. RED+ packs two things RED leaves out: the level's custom sounds, and the frame textures of every .atx texture on a face or a decal.

The game plays a custom sound only from a packfile, so a level's own sounds reach other players only when they are in its .vpp.

Where to find it

File, Create Level Packfile (Ctrl+Shift+S)
The Pack button above the viewports.

What goes into the packfile

The level, and the custom textures it uses.
The placed meshes the level uses, and their textures.
The level's custom sounds. See below.
For every .atx texture on a face or a decal, the frame textures it names.

Custom sounds

RED+ packs the sounds the level names in these places:

ambient sounds
Play_Sound events (both of their sounds)
Music_Start and Switch events
moving groups: the Start Sound, Looping Sound, Stop Sound and Close Sounds of each

The game's own sounds are left out, because every player has them: a sound in the game's audio.vpp or music.vpp, in RED+'s RedPlusFaction.vpp or in Alpine Faction's alpinefaction.vpp. A sound that comes from a mod's packfile is left out too.

Where RED+ looks for a sound

RED+ looks in these places, in this order, and packs the first copy it finds. Every folder is in your Red Faction folder unless it says otherwise.

The level's own folder.
The folders the sound browse box last used.
user_maps\sounds, and each folder directly inside it.
user_maps.
red\audio, then red\sounds.
Each folder directly inside user_maps\projects.
user_maps\textures.
Any folder under user_maps, then under red, then under mods.
Inside the level's current .vpp, the one this pack replaces, so a sound you added to it by hand is kept.
A copy RED+ took out of a packfile for an earlier pack of this level. RED+ keeps these in a folder named RED+ packed sounds in the Windows temporary folder.
The other map packs in user_maps\single, user_maps\multi and user_maps\projects.

RED+ only reads other map packs. It does not change them.

The log window

RED+ clears the log window when packing starts, so it shows only this pack. The sound lines are:

A line containing custom sound(s) packed, with how many sounds were packed and how many of the game's own were left out.
An indented line for each sound packed: packed, the sound's name and the file it was taken from.
An indented note: line for anything RED+ wants you to check.
A Warning: line for each sound RED+ could not find.

Notes and warnings

The line says	What it means
`not found anywhere; the game will not play it`	RED+ found the sound in none of the places above. Put the file in the level's folder or in `user_maps\sounds`, and pack again.
`the game cannot load a sound name of 32 characters or more`	The sound is packed, but the game will not play it. Give the file a name of 31 characters or fewer, the extension included, and use that name in the level.
`the name is 40 characters or more, which the packfile cannot hold; not packed`	The sound is not packed. Give the file a name of 31 characters or fewer, and use that name in the level.
`names a path; the game looks up a bare file name, so it is not packed`	The level names the sound with a folder in it. Type only the file name.
`has spaces around the name; the game will not find it`	The name has spaces before or after it. Retype it without them. The sound is not packed until you do.
`Alpine plays .ogg only with a lower-case extension`	The name ends in `.OGG` or another mix of capitals. Rename the file to end in `.ogg`, and use that name in the level.
`copies of different sizes found`	RED+ found more than one file of that name, and they differ. The line names the one it packed. Check it is the right one.
`differs in size from the copy already in`	The file RED+ packed is not the one in the level's current `.vpp`. Check it is the right one.
`also in`	Another map pack holds a sound of the same name. A player with both packs may hear the other pack's file. Give the sound a name only this level uses.
`comes from` ... `(a mod pack); not packed`	The sound is in a mod's packfile, so it is left out.
`kept from the level's current`, `kept from an earlier pack of this level`, `taken from`	Where a sound came from when RED+ found no loose file. Nothing to do, unless you meant to pack a newer copy.
`Warning: sounds were not packed`	Something went wrong while RED+ packed the sounds. The rest of the pack goes on. Report the problem.

The log window can also show a line containing Warning: Skipping missing file for any file on the pack list that cannot be opened. That file is left out of the pack.

Animated textures

An .atx texture on a face or a decal is packed with every frame texture it names. RED+ looks for the .atx file in user_maps\textures and the folders inside it. If it cannot find the .atx, its frames are not packed, and the RED+ log (logs\RedPlusEditor.log) says so. The RED+ log also has a line containing .atx texture(s) on faces or decals that says how many frame textures were added.

Good to know

Every line about sounds is also in the RED+ log.
A command-line switch leaves sounds out of the pack. See Command-line switches.