Description

The text a campaign, a multiplayer map, or a saved map seed is listed under.

Campaign list entry

Specification — Campaign list entry

Applies to: Campaign
File: BATTLE*.INI
Section: [<Campaign ID>]
Value: string
When omitted: ComputedThe campaign's own name, as the battle list spells it.

The text is the row the campaign occupies in the mission selection list, so it is the only part of a campaign the player ever sees before choosing it. Campaigns the running expansion does not allow are left out of that list, and their text is never displayed.

At most 127 characters are kept; a longer line is cut.

Packet list entry

Specification — Packet list entry

Applies to: map packets
File: scenario packet (.pkt)
Section: [<Map ID>]
Value: string
When omitted: ComputedAn empty entry. The read writes its own empty default into the description and nothing supplies a substitute, so the map is listed under a blank line.

A scenario packet lists its maps in [MultiMaps], and each entry names the section the map describes itself in. The text read from that section is the row the map occupies in the multiplayer scenario list, and it is what the host sends to the other machines as the scenario name.

[MultiMaps]
1=MYMAP

[MYMAP] ; the section the entry above named
Description=Four player canyon

At most 43 characters are kept; a longer line is cut. The map file the entry stands for is the section name with .MAP appended, and it is consulted only for the digest the other players’ copies are checked against — never for a better description, unlike a loose map file.

Loose map list entry

Specification — Loose map list entry

Applies to: multiplayer maps
File: map file (.mpr)
Section: [Multiplay]
Value: string
When omitted: ComputedThe map's own [Basic] Name, which the listing is built with before this section is read, or "No Name" when that is absent as well.

A loose .MPR in the game directory is listed under the text in its own [Multiplay] section. That row is what the multiplayer scenario list shows and what the host sends to the other machines as the scenario name.

[Multiplay]
Description=Four player canyon

An empty value is treated the same as a missing one, so blanking the assignment falls back to Name rather than producing an empty row. At most 43 characters are kept; a longer line is cut.

Saved map name

Specification — Saved map name

Applies to: random map generation
File: map seed file
Section: [RandomMap]
Value: string
When omitted: Context-dependentThe read falls back on the name the game itself gives a random map, which is taken from the language files, so the stored text follows the language the game is running in.

The text is what the load and delete dialogs list the seed under and what the multiplayer lobby shows as the scenario name once the map is generated. It is kept in a 128-character buffer and anything longer is cut to fit. Map seed files covers the section it is written in.

[RandomMap]
Description=Four player temperate map

The dialogs build their lists by reading the assignment out of each candidate file directly, and that read has no fallback: a file whose Description is missing or empty is listed as unusable rather than under a substitute name, and cannot be picked. The generator’s own scratch file is passed over and never listed at all.

The text takes no part in what is built. It is deliberately blanked before the settings are digested into the identifier a lobby matches maps by, so renaming a seed does not make it a different map.

See also — Scenario, RequiredAddon, FinalMovie, CD, MinPlayers, Name, Official, Seed, NumPlayers