Making Prototypes.
By ColJack

I'm not going to go into the details of making frm's here, just prototype editing.

This was how I was told to do it by Red! and it works fine for me, so I'm writing this tutorial because Red! doesn't want to..

In the following description, fallout2\ shall mean the fallout 2 game directory.

For the following to work, you must remove or re-name the patch000.dat file since it overrides anything in the data directory.


1. Place the frm's you want to turn into a prototype into the relevant folder, ie. fallout2\data\art\critters or fallout2\data\art\scenery and so on..

2. Extract the .lst file for the artwork folder you are adding to ( using a suitable dat unpacker such as datmanlite ) and edit it to contain the name of the frm you are adding ( or group for critters.. ) so you would end up with critters.lst in the fallout2\data\art\critters folder, and so on.

3. Make the following directories in the C:\ folder ( alter to the drive letter that fallout 2 is installed on.. ):

C:\fallout2\dev\proto\critters
      "      "    "  \scenery
      "      "    "  \items
      "      "    "  \misc
      "      "    "  \tiles
      "      "    "  \walls

leave them empty.. you do not need to do anything else with them..

4. Make the following directories in the fallout2\data folder ( if they don't already exist.. )

proto\critters
proto\scenery
proto\items
proto\misc
proto\tiles
proto\walls

Extract the .lst file for the proto group you are adding to, into the right group name.
So you would extract the critter.lst from the proto group "proto\critters" in the dat to the "proto\critters" folder in the fallout2\data folder..

5. Edit the mapper2.cfg file so that the line that says: "librarian=0" reads "librarian=1".

6. Save the mapper2.cfg Duh!!

7. Start the editor.

8. Now you can edit existing prototypes, just select the one you want to edit from it's selector bar, and click on edit.. a screen will pop up with the proto's properties on it..
When you click done, it saves the proto automatically.. If you get a "can't save proto's from here" message, then you did something from points 1-7 wrong..

9. To make a new prototype, go to the end of the correct selector bar ( ie critters selector for a new critter, tiles selector for tiles.. ) and click on the blank slot at the end of the list.

10. Click edit and a window will pop open with the default prototype settings in it..
In the top right corner will be a picture with scroll arrows beneath it.. use the scroll arrows to find the artwork for your new proto.

ATTENTION!! There is a known problem with versions of fallout that do not have the children, the critters artwork selector will not scroll past a man in blue-grey robes, because the next artwork in the list should be one of the children.
To remedy this, get the kids patch ( available from NMA and DAC ) and unzip the frm's to the fallout2\data\art\critters folder.
The Kids patch does not alter anything in the game, it just puts the kids artwork back in.

11. If it's a new tile, that is all you need to do.. click on done and it should be made.. a new numbered .pro file should have been created in the fallout2\data\proto\tiles folder, and a tiles.lst file in the same folder.

12. For new scenery, you can set things like whether it is a door, stairs etc, as well as flags for thing like transparency, whether it is flat on the ground ( like rugs and blood stains ), whether you bend down to use it, or whether you can use it in the first place..

13. For critters, you set things like damage resistance and AI packets ( the default behaviour.. )

14. I have been told that the game likes to delete the files in the fallout2\data\proto folder, so make any new proto's you make read only..

(I have not experienced this, I have started Fallout 2 many times and it never deleted them.. maybe because i do not use the patch000.dat )