There are several rules you have to follow, while you submit your battle for EH Mission Compendium:

· Pass the appropriate mission creation course when available (TIE Mission Creation, XvT (or Advanced) Mission Creation, or XWA Mission Design) from the Imperial Academy (IWATS). There is currently no JK/JK2 level creation course.
· Create a free mission, battle or custom level that involves the Emperor's Hammer. Missions made for other clubs or organizations or do not involve the Emperor's Hammer will not be accepted.
· Titles, briefings, plotlines, and text files must be in English.
· The battle must be suitable for all ages. Battles and plotlines with inappropriate language or content will not be accepted.
· Check to make sure your battle, mission or level follows standards for its game platform.
· Playtest your battle or level and keep a pilot file as proof for the flying platforms.
· Submit your battle to the Tactical Officer, along with your pilot file (zipped) for flying platforms.
· Instead of sending the file to the Tactical Officer the submitters are asked to use the custom battle submission form (CBSF), available here.

You can also add storyline to your mission/battle to make it more playable and enjoyable for all members. The Tactical Officer can award you with Commendation of Service, for every good storyline you make to your battle. Also, the ratings of your battle may be higher when it contains a storyline.

When submitting your battle or level to the Tactical Officer, use as subject “Custom battle submission”, “Custom mission submission” or “Custom level submission”; the body of your mail must contain the following resume:

Title: (title of your mission/battle/level)
Subgroup: (Subgroup involved or "Combined Arms" for multiple subgroups, make sure you have your plotline approved by Subgroup tactical authority (IWTAC for IW, SHW for DB), without approval, your submission will be rejected)
Game Platform: (either TIE, XvT, BoP, XWA for flying platforms, either DF, JK, MotS, JK2 for Jedi Knight platforms)
Level Type: (Jedi Knight series games only)(either Single Player Level or Multiplayer Map)
Missions/Levels: (number of missions/levels in your battle)
Medal: (name of the battle or level medal- doesn't apply to free missions or MP maps)
Author: (put your ID-line without medals, email, and PIN for TIE Corps members) You must end your mail with your full ID-Line, to show you passed the appropriate IWATS Course (if available).

**Note**. These fields are all on the custom battle submission form (CBSF) you can easily get around to submitting a battle by filling in the blanks. **Note**

2.1.1 Submission sample

Here is a sample submission. You can use the same form, or create your own. However, make sure you include all necessary parts required by Tactical Officer.

From: LT John
To: TAC
Subject: Custom Battle Submission
Greetings Sir,

I would like to submit a new TIE battle to the Mission Compendium:

Title: Ewok Hunt
Game Platform: TIE Fighter (TIE)
Missions: 6
Medal: Ewok Cross
Author: FM/LT John/Alpha 1-3/Wing I/SSSD Sovereign(john@tiecorps.org) (#8529)

The battle and my pilot file for this battle are attached.



FM/LT John/Alpha 1-3/Wing I/SSSD Sovereign
PC/ISM/CoB, {IWATS-SM/2-TM-TT}
Attached files:
[TIE]_Ewok_Hunt.zip
Ewok_John.zip


2.2 Battle standards:

Every battle submitted to the Emperor’s Hammer Mission Compendium must follow the guidelines and regulations of Tactical Office. The Tactical Officer has set these guidelines and regulations to help people with their submissions, to make the submission process more efficient and to avoid total chaos with submissions.

Every platform is different, so the Tactical Officer has set slightly different submission regulations for each platform.

2.2.1 TIE Fighter

TIE Fighter is the first and the most popular game of the Emperor’s Hammer. There are over 200 TIE Fighter battles and missions and the numbers are still growing. Even with the introduction of new, more advanced gaming platforms like X-Wing Alliance, TIE Fighter is still popular and people still submit battles for it.

There are some differences between free missions and battles. Each of them has its own regulations, specified below:

Battles:
-Readme.txt– every battle must contain this file, with basic information about the battle and its author (similar to submission data). It must also contain the Lucas Arts disclaimer that is required in every readme.txt file.
-Updates.txt– this is an optional file, used by Tactical Staff, to list updates made to the battle during the beta testing and correction process. It is not required, however you can create it and add “List all updates here:” inside it.
-Patches.txt – you can include this information inside readme.txt or create separate file and list all patches required by your battle. You can only use patches listen on Science Office website as EH Official Patches. All submission with non-EH patches will be rejected.
-At least 4 missions– every battle must contain at least 4 missions. Battle with less than 4 missions will be rejected. Remember, in TIE you can only put 8 mission per .LFD file.
-Custom .LFD file– every TIE battle must contain an .LFD file which is required to play every TIE battle. Battles without an .LFD file will be rejected.
-Mission map and briefing– all battles must contain a briefing map and an animated briefing for every mission.
-Officer briefing text– officer questions are required for every battle and every mission to assist player in the missions.
-No decoy beam– the decoy beam works only in TIE Disk and is not allowed to be used anymore in EH battles and missions
-TIE 95 compatible– TIE 95 is the only official TIE version of the Emperor’s Hammer. All EH battles must work with TIE 95. You can make it compatible with all TIE versions, but you must consider TIE 95 as highest priority.

Free missions:
Free mission regulations are analogical to battle regulations, except for a few differences. Free missions do not need a medal name, they have only 1 mission, and you won’t get Commendation of Service for your storyline addition to your free mission. Free missions are not split by Subgroup, so you don’t need approval from Subgroup Tactical Authority when making free mission about a Subgroup. All other battle regulations apply to free missions.

2.2.2 X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

The introduction of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter was another milestone of the Emperor’s Hammer. The game itself had advanced graphic design (TIE at the moment didn’t have 3D hardware support), much more realistic flying, faster lasers, and even multiplayer ability. Also, the mission creation process was much easier, with the release of XvTED. Pilot files became more advanced and allowed Tactical Officer to limit cheating much more efficiently than in TIE.

Battle standards for XvT are very similar to TIE one, however there are some differences.

Battles:
-Readme.txt
-Updates.txt
-Patches.txt
-4 or more missions
-Custom .LST files– this is an index file for every XvT battle. Without it, the battle will not work. This index file is copied to /TRAIN directory of XvT along with mission files to make the battle playable. Not including an .LST file will make the submission be rejected.
-Introduction text– instead of a battle selection chamber, XvT has an introduction text for every mission. It is a required part of every mission in a battle. Not having an introduction text is considered to be a bug, and can be a reason of battle rejection.
-Mission map and briefing
-Radio messages
-Must work without Balance of Power– this means you cannot use ships that are BoP only. Your mission must work with plain XvT, otherwise it will be converted to BoP battle.
-Custom sounds recorded at 11,025 Hz, 8-bit, mono (or lower quality)
-XvT can only accept sound samples of that parameters. Make sure that your .WAV files match the requirements.
-Custom goal labels– this means you need to name goals for every mission in your battle.

Free missions:
Just like in TIE, XvT free missions follow the same requirements as XvT battles, with the exception of # of missions, and Commendation of Service.


2.2.3 Balance of Power:

Balance of Power is add-on to X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. It upgrades to version 2.0, along with many other good improvements. Ships in BoP can be larger and the graphics engine is more advanced. Although it’s very hard to get Balance of Power these days, it has become very popular among EH mission designers.

BoP requirements for battles and free missions are the same as the XvT requirements, with one little exception. BoP battles and mission, must require BoP. If your BoP battle will work with XvT and won’t require BoP to play, then it will be downgraded to an XvT battle or mission.

Keep in mind that the BoP engine is much more advanced than XvT. It can support Super Star Destroyers or Shipyards, something not supported by XvT engine. Except for those little engine differences, BoP battles are equal to XvT battles, so making a conversion is very easy.

2.2.4 X-Wing Alliance:

Although it is few years old, X-Wing Alliance is the newest EH flying simulation. However, with the lack of new games from Lucas Arts, X-Wing Alliance is the most popular and the most advanced gaming platform of the Emperor’s Hammer.

X-Wing Alliance engine offers mission designer the most advanced abilities, not encountered in previous games. Using dynamic goals, four regions and a very high craft limit, it is possible to create outstanding missions with very realistic areas. Also, the craft palette is very large and offers many ships, much more than previous games from the series.

X-Wing Alliance mission’s structure has been much more improved, compared to XvT, so battle requirements are a bit different.

Battles:
-Readme.txt
-Updates.txt
-Patches.txt
-Custom .LST file– this file is very different from the XvT one. Creation of .LST files for XVT/BoP and XWA has been described in chapter 2.3.2.
-1B8M#x.TIE mission format– all custom XWA missions must follow this pattern, otherwise flying custom XWA mission will be difficult or even not possible. Violation of this rule will result in rejection of the submitted battle.
-Blank custom pilot file– this pilot file will be use for flying this battle
-Briefing map and briefing/debriefing text
-Radio messages
-4 to 20 missions
-Custom sounds recorder at 11,025 Hz, 8-bit, mono (or lower quality)


Free missions have exactly the same requirement, with the exception of # of missions.

2.2.5 Jedi Knight:

Jedi Knight is a FPP game and a continuation of the famous Dark Forces game. It describes adventures of Kyle Katarn, a mercenary hired by the New Republic. Currently, there are no JK missions in EH mission compendium; however the Tactical Office has posted JK level regulations.

Level regulations are exactly the same for single and multi player levels:
-Readme.txt
-Updates.txt
-Patches.txt
-Briefing text
-*.GOB file format – all JK mission must follow this format.
-No MotS components – JK levels must work with plain JK, so using components from the MotS expansion is not allowed.

2.2.6 Mysteries of the Sith:

Mysteries of the Sith has been released as an expansion CD to Jedi Knight. They add new components to the game and they slightly increased the engine.

MotS requirements are very similar to JK ones, with few exceptions:
-Must required MotS – this means your levels must use MotS components
-*.GOO file format

2.2.7 Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast:

Jedi Knight II is the newest Lucas Arts FPP game supported by Emperor’s Hammer. There are currently no JKII levels in the EH Mission Compendium.

Jedi Knight II regulations are exactly the same as the JK and MotS regulations with one exception only. JKII levels must be in *.PK3 format.

Since level designing for FPP games is very hard, the Tactical Office does not consider adding JK games to EH Mission Compendium as a high priority.

2.3 Sample files and additional stuff:

Creating sample files is fairly easy as there are no strict rules about them. The Tactical Office suggests using special forms that we’ve created for text and other files.

2.3.1 Sample readme.txt file

Each platform has its own sample readme.txt file. Each of them can be altered to serve your own purposes, however you should try to use it in the original form.

2.3.1.1 Flying platforms

Readme.txt file for all flying platforms should contain the following:

Title: Title of the Battle
Missions: # of missions included with this battle
Medal: Battle Medal awarded for completing this battle (No medals for Free Missions)
Game Platform: Game platform the battle was made for (TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, Balance of Power, X-Wing Alliance)
Author: ID Line (without medals), E-mail address and PIN/Subgroup of the battle creator. If multiple authors are listed, briefly describe their roles in the creation.
Installation Instructions:

Here, list the files included in the battle's .ZIP file and where each directory goes in. State also if some EH-approved ship patches are needed as well. If some ship patches are needed, include as well a patches.txt file where all needed patches are listed. Small size patches must be included with the battle/mission, large size patches, exceeding by far the size of the missions are not to be included, insert a link to the Science Office for custom ships or to the Tactical Manual for game updates in this case.

For example:
Install the files in your TIE Fighter directory:
· mission1.tie - \MISSION
· mission2.tie - \MISSION
· mission3.tie - \MISSION
· mission4.tie - \MISSION
· battle1.lfd - \RESOURCE

Here's another example:
Install the files in your XvT directory:
· mission1.tie - \TRAIN
· mission2.tie - \TRAIN
· mission3.tie - \TRAIN
· mission4.tie - \TRAIN
· imperial.lst - \TRAIN
· mission1.lst - \WAVE
· mis1a.wav - \WAVE\CBATTLE
· mis1b.wav - \WAVE\CBATTLE
· mis1c.wav - \WAVE\CBATTLE

Description:
You must write at least two sentences describing your battle. You may also include your plotline story here. The length and detail of your plotline determines eligibility for the Commendation of Service. You can be as vague or detailed as you would like in your description. You can include a listing of missions in your battle with titles for each. You can include a list of Primary, Secondary, and Bonus goals for each mission. Some have even gone as far as list all the ships used in the mission!

You may add to the battle .zip an additional plotline file (plotline.txt .html or .doc) in TEXT, HTML or MS word formats for long plotline descriptions. In this case, you must still put a short summary of the plotline here.

THIS LEVEL IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, OR SUPPORTED BY LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY. ELEMENTS TM & © LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY.
(Be sure to include this disclaimer!)


2.3.1.2 Jedi Knight series

Use this form when submitting new levels:

[INSERT DATE HERE]
================================================================
Map Name : [NAME HERE]
Author : [YOUR NAME]
Email Address : [YOUR ADDRESS]
Website URL : [YOUR WEBSITE]
Map description : [DESCRIPTION HERE]
This should be a few simple sentences describing the setting, the purpose,
etc.
Other info : [OTHER STUFF]

Additional Credits to : [George Lucas, yadda yadda... ]

Thanks to : [PEOPLE TO THANK]
================================================================
* Play Information *

New Sounds : [YES/NO]
New Skins : [YES/NO]
New Objects : [YES/NO]

* Construction *
Brush Count : [### Brushes]
Vert Count : [### Verts]
Entity Count : [### Entities]
Base info : [New content or modified content]
For example, did you use another
map as a foundation or did
you do everything from scratch.
Software used : [What editors you used]
Known Bugs : [Any bugs]
Build Time : [time]

* How to use this map *

[INSTALLATION INFO]

* Copyright / Permissions *

THIS LEVEL IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, OR SUPPORTED BY LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC. ELEMENTS TM & © LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LLC AND/OR ITS LICENSORS.

[Other Legal info about the use of your map]

2.3.1.3 Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds

Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds is fairly new platform to the Emperor’s Hammer, as it was introduced to the EH Mission Compendium not so long ago. You can base your readme.txt file on the files from other platforms.

2.3.2 Creating .LFD and .LST files

The creation of index files for all platforms is very easy as you can base it on existing files from games. Tie Fighter uses .lfd files to index information about battles. To build an .lfd file, you will need a mission editor like Tie Fighter Workshop. Indexing files used by X-Wing Alliance and X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter (.lst files) are even easier to create. All you need is notepad or any other text writing tool.

Tactical Office webpage offers a set of tutorials to help rookie members with index file creation. Visit the Tactical Office webpage, tutorials section to read them if you have any problems.

2.4 Special circumstances

There are other battles which don’t fit into standard categories. During the last years, EH has evolved into big club with many different subgroups. Each subgroup covers different part of the EH universe but all of them can submit battles to EH Mission Compendium. And of course there are special battle types.

2.4.1 Subgroup battles

Most of the battles available in the EH Mission Compendium involve the main Fleet of the Emperor's Hammer, the TIE Corps. However, some battles are dedicated to a specific Subgroup of the Emperor's Hammer like the Infiltrator Wing, the Dark Brotherhood, Intel etc, and have their own battle category in the EH Mission Compendium.

A submitted battle which involves a specific subgroup rather than the TIE Corps would then fall into these categories. While the Tactical Officer is the ONLY officer able to release any new official EH custom level, subgroups may want to approve (or not approve) the content of such battles. Therefore, it is highly recommended (but not compulsory unless a specific request has been done to the Tactical Officer by the appropriate SGCOM) to contact the SGCOM (or the SG Officer responsible of custom levels if any - IWTAC for the Infiltrator Wing, SHW/OHC for the Dark Brotherhood) with your plotline prior to the construction of your battle.

Right now, only Dark Brotherhood Battles should be sent to the Sith High Warrior first who will send them to the Tactical Officer if the plotline is approved.

Concerning Free Missions, there are no specific free mission categories for subgroups. ALL free missions are in the same category (per platform).

2.4.2 Combined Arms battles

Combined Arms Battles are usually large battles, which follow a storyline that involves SEVERAL subgroups, and thus do not fit in the TC, IW, DB, etc. categories. The creation of Combined Arms Battles MUST be approved by the Tactical Officer PRIOR to its construction! E-mail a detailed plotline that would contain all the information (except the installation instructions) to the Tactical Officer. There is no specific length requirement for CABs.

2.4.3 Fleet Commander’s Honor Guard battles

Fleet Commander's Honor Guard battles are selected battles which have won a FCHG mission creation competition. These competitions are held twice a year by the Tactical Office for the Fleet Commander’s and Emperor Hammer’s birthday. These battles must follow high quality standards and must have a plotline following the general Emperor’s Hammer timeline. The Tactical Officer has final say on the selection of these FCHG Battles.

2.4.4 Conversions

Platform Conversions battles are created by converting an existing battle on the Mission Compendium (usually a TIE Fighter battle). These are typically discouraged except by the author or team that designed the original battle.

Platform Conversions have several problems. The AI is different between game platforms and some game platforms don't support the same starships. In many cases, briefing text does not convert properly.

Platform Conversions by mission designers other than the author or design team of the original battle MUST get approval from the Tactical Officer to construct a Platform Conversion.

2.5 Medals

There are Emperor’s Hammer medals that can be earned only for services in Tactical Office, custom mission submission and any other Tactical Office related things. Service medals are generally earned for the specified amount of work done, while hammers are earned for each single submission of battle and mission.

2.5.1 Medal of Tactics:

The Medal of Tactics is awarded by the Tactical Officer to members who create an EH Battle Center approved battle or free mission.

For every approved Free Mission, the Medal of Tactics - Green Hammer is awarded.

For every approved Battle, the Medal of Tactics - Red Hammer is awarded. Multiple Red Hammers are awarded for long battles:
· 4-8 missions: 1 Red Hammer
· 9-13 missions: 2 Red Hammers
· 14-18 missions: 3 Red Hammers
· 5x-1 - 5x+3 missions: x Red Hammers
For every 5 missions a Tactician or Tactical Coordinator corrects, the Medal of Tactics - Blue Hammer is awarded.

The Medal of Tactics – Blue Hammer may also be awarded to participants of bug correction projects like Project Phoenix.

There is also another addition to Medal of Tactics called a Yellow Hammer. It’s awarded for every custom map (Jedi Knight series) submitted for Tactical Officer’s approval. It’s fairly new and it had not yet been integrated into TIE Corps database.

2.5.2 Commendation of Service

The Tactical Officer awards the Commendation of Service to members who submit an approved plotline in conjunction with an approved Battle. The requirements for the CoS are as follows:

-The battle must be composed of at least six (6) missions.
-Each mission must have at least 12 radio messages.
-The enclosed battle plotline must have at least 5 pages to it.
-A medal image must be submitted.

The Tactical Officer reserves the right to deny the awarding of a CoS even if the requirements are met.

2.5.3 Battle stars

Battle Medals are awarded to pilots who complete EH Battles on the Mission Compendium. The Battle Medal is awarded after the pilot's superior fills out a Battle Submission Form and receives approval from the Tactical Office.

Battle authors suggest the name of the Battle Medal that is to be awarded upon completing their battle. New Battle Medal names cannot conflict with existing medal names. The Tactical Officer approves and has final say on new Battle Medal names.

Battle Medals are listed on the Mission Compendium or on a pilot's Combat Profile. Battle Medals are not displayed on uniforms, only as campaign stars. You get a Campaign Star for each 100 missions you fly.

2.6 Multiplayer battles:

The EH evolves more and more into a multiplayer gaming based club. That’s why Tactical Office looks for a way to adapt the EH Mission Compendium to the needs and requirements of the modern pilots.

2.6.1 Basic information

Every battle or mission supporting multiplayer gaming in any form can be called multiplayer (MP). Some of the games in the EH Mission Compendium are there for multiplayer purposed only (JK series). Off course all MP battles can be flown to get single player high score, however some of them may allow much higher scores while flying multiplayer.

2.6.2 Cooperative battles

Cooperative battles serve training purposes for EH pilots. All pilots in a multiplayer game fly on the same side and support each other in achieving mission goals. Cooperative battles are a great way for the rookies to learn the basics of MP combat but also for experienced pilots to polish their skills in team work.

2.6.3 Combat Engagements

This is what the pilots like the most. In this scenario, live players fight each other. They are located in two or more different teams, each one trying to achieve its own goals. Combat Engagements are great for simulated war-games and any other types of MP combat.

2.7 LucasArts’ new levels rules:

Rules Governing New Levels: "New Levels" are data that modify, add to, or substitute for data in the Software, thus modifying, adding to, or replacing levels provided by LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC (LEC) in the Software. New Levels may be permitted by LEC, in its sole discretion, on the following conditions. You agree that the following conditions apply to your creation of any New Levels:

1. New Levels must work only with the retail version of the Software, and may not work with any demo or OEM versions of the Software.

2. New Levels may not modify COM, EXE, DLL or other executable files. The Emperor's Hammer will not distribute custom .COM, .EXE, or .DLL files bundled with its missions. The Emperor's Hammer does not and will not distribute modified LucasArts .COM, .EXE, or .DLL files, but does distribute patch programs for these files.

3. New Levels must not contain any illegal, scandalous, illicit, defamatory, libelous, or objectionable material (as may be determined by LEC in its sole discretion), or any material that infringes any trademarks, copyrights, protected works, publicity, proprietary, or other rights of any third party or of LEC. The Emperor's Hammer also enforces that all new missions and battles must comply with the Articles of War and Emperor's Hammer Bylaws.

4. New Levels may not include any LEC sound effects or music files or portions thereof.

5. New Levels must identify in every description file, on-line description, read-me, and in comments in the New Level code: (a) the name, address, and an e-mail address of the level's creators, and (b) the following disclaimer: "THIS LEVEL IS NOT MADE, DISTRIBUTED, OR SUPPORTED BY LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY, ELEMENTS TM & (C) LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY." Despite what this says, you are NOT required or asked to put your real name or home address in custom missions! In fact, we discourage this practice, especially if you're under the age of 18. Only your Emperor's Hammer ID-Line and e-mail address to identify you as the creator are required. The disclaimer is required as well.

6. New Levels may not be sold, bartered, or distributed with any other product for which any charge is made (other than incidental charges for time spent online), but rather must be distributed free of charge.

7. By distributing or permitting the distribution of any New Levels, all creators or owners of any trademark, copyright, or other right, title or interest therein grant to LEC an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, sub licensable right to distribute the New Level by any means (whether now known or hereafter invented) derivative works thereof, and to charge for the distribution of such New Level or derivative work, with no obligation to account to any of the creators or owners of the New Level in any manner.