How can I edit the BasicActions.bdf file in 1.5?

[Don]

In version 1.5, the action files shipped with the game (BasicActions.bdf and StayEngaged.bdf) are marked as read only. This was done because each new release of the game adds to and changes these files. If a user has changed these files, than those changes will be lost when a new version is installed.

Since you can no longer edit these files directly, a new method must be used to modify these files. This is done using a method called "action overide"

All action files in Bliss now have a Priority assigned to them. The Priority of the built in files is 0. The higher the number the higher the priority. If two files contain actions with the same title, the one with the highest priority will be used.

This gives users an easy way to modify the actions in the BasicActions.bdf file. Just create a new action file (call it MyBasicActions.bdf or whatever you like) with a priority of 1 or higher. Add actions to it with the same name as those in BasicActions.bdf, and your actions will replace the ones in BasicActions.

If you want to change a large number of actions in the BasicActions.bdf file, you can open BasicActions and then do a SaveAs to another file name (such as MyBasicActions.bdf). Then open the new file. The new file will not be read only, and you will be able to edit it. Once you have done this, the simplest thing to do is to go through your new file (MyBasicActions) and delete all of the actions that you like and don't want to change. This seems backwards, but by deleting the actions that you like, they will continue to be used from BasicActions.bdf. When you are done, you will have a file that only contains the actions you don't like.

Once you have trimmed your MyBasicActions.bdf file down to the actions you want to change, just go through and modify the actions as desired. If you want to simply remove an action, don't delete it (or the one in BasicActions.bdf will be used). Instead, just uncheck all of the situations in the Situation list. This will cause this action never to be played.

Thanks,

Don