Briefing Editor - QtFRED Help

# Briefing Editor

Opens via Editors › Briefing.

Sets up the pre-mission briefing shown to the player before launch. The briefing is made up of stages; each stage has its own camera view, map icons, text, and voice file.

## Map view

The map is a top-down 2D projection of the mission space. Its aspect ratio matches the aspect ratio defined for the current mod. You can drag icons around directly on the map, and use the same camera controls as the main QtFRED viewport to adjust the view. Camera movement speed can be set via the drop-down; it only affects editing and has no in-game effect.

## Teams

In multiplayer missions each team can have its own independent briefing. Use the team selector to switch which team's briefing you are editing. Copy to other team duplicates the entire briefing (all stages) to the other team, overwriting it.

## Music

Music and Alt music are briefing-wide; they are not per-stage. Music sets the track played throughout the entire briefing and the command briefing (if present). Alt music is used instead when that track is available in the currently loaded mod.

## Stage controls

Control | Description
--- | ---
Prev / Next | Navigate between stages.
Add stage | Appends a new stage at the end of the briefing.
Insert stage | Inserts a copy of the current stage immediately after it.
Delete stage | Removes the current stage.

## Camera controls

Control | Description
--- | ---
Reset camera | Restores the stage's camera to the position it had when you first navigated to it, discarding any unsaved changes.
Copy / Paste | Copies the current stage's camera position and orientation to the clipboard, then pastes it onto another stage.
Camera coords | Manually enter the camera position and orientation as numeric values.
Transition time | How long the camera takes to move to this stage's position when advancing forward. When moving backward, the departing stage's transition time is used instead.
Cut to next stage | Disables camera movement into the next stage; the transition is an instant cut with a static effect instead.
Cut to previous stage | Same, but applies to the transition coming from the previous stage.
Disable grid rendering | Hides the map grid during this stage.

## Icon controls

Make icon places a blank icon on the map. Make icon from ship lets you pick a ship from the mission and creates an icon preset to that ship's type, a shorthand for Make Icon followed by setting the ship type manually.

### Icon properties

Field | Description
--- | ---
ID | Links this icon to the same icon across other stages. Icons with matching IDs are treated as the same object moving between stages.
Label | Name visible on the map.
Closeup label | Name shown when the player clicks the icon to zoom in.
Icon image | The 2D icon graphic from `icons.tbl`.
Ship type | 3D model shown when the player clicks the icon. If the ship class has a special briefing icon defined, that is used instead of the icon image.
Team | Tints the icon with that team's color.
Scale | Scales the icon up or down on the map.
Draw lines | Draws lines between icons that are marked for it.
Flip icon | Mirrors the icon horizontally.
Use cargo icon | Uses the cargo variant of the ship type's icon, if one exists. Only applies to Ship Type icons.
Wing icon | Uses the wing variant of the ship type's icon, if one exists. Only applies to Ship Type icons.
Highlight | The icon receives an animated highlight effect during this stage.
Change locally | When checked, changes to this icon apply only to the current stage. When unchecked, changes propagate forward to all later stages that share the same icon ID.

### Icon actions

Button | Description
--- | ---
Icon coords | Set the icon's map position as numeric values.
Delete | Removes the icon from this stage.
Propagate | Copies this icon's current state to all following stages that share the same icon ID.

## Stage text

The text displayed in the briefing text box during this stage.

## Voice file

Audio narration played during this stage.

## Usage formula

SEXP evaluated before the briefing plays. If true, this stage is shown; if false, it is skipped entirely.