Enabling Map Printing in the MechCommander Mission Editor

The MechCommander Mission Editor has no 'Print' option on the 'File' menu. However the code does exist within the editor to print maps, it's just a case of getting at it. Following the steps below will add a 'Print' option to the standard menu and link it to the code required.

Many Windows executables use what are called 'resources' to store self contained items such as icons, dialog boxes, message strings etc, separate from the program code. Programmers use utilities called 'resource editors' to modify these 'resources' to change the embedded items. You can use a 'resource editor' yourself to add a 'Print' item to your copy of the mission editor. There are many professional and shareware resource editors available. I use the excellent 'Restorator' available at http://www.bome.com/Restorator and the instructions below are for using that utility, however any good resource editor should be capable in a similar fashion.

WARNING: The procedure hacks your 'MCEditor.exe' file and I take no responsibility for your undertaking this procedure. Backup this file first in case something goes wrong.

1) Download and install 'Restorator' or some other good resource editor
2) Run the resource editor and open the file 'MCEditor.exe' in your MC game folder
3) The left hand pane (in Restorator anyway) shows a list of resources in the executable such as 'TEMPLATE', 'Bitmap', 'Menu', Dialog', etc
4) Click the '+' sign next to 'Menu' to expand this branch
5) It should now show eight menu numbers i.e. 128,221,222 etc. It is menu 128 (the 'File' menu that we are interested in)
6) Click on menu item 128
7) The top right pane should show a text representation of the 'File' menu structure
8) Select the 'Viewer' menu (in Restorator) and select 'Edit Mode' (this allows you to modify the menu)
9) The top right pane should now look like this...

128 MENU
{
POPUP "&File"
{
MENUITEM "&New...\tCtrl+N", -7936
MENUITEM "&Open...\tCtrl+O", -7935
MENUITEM "&Save...\tCtrl+S", -7933
MENUITEM "Save &As...", -7932
MENUITEM SEPARATOR
MENUITEM "&Write Distribution File (DPK)...", -32670
MENUITEM SEPARATOR
etc.....................

10) After the 'Save As' line add the following line exactly as below...

MENUITEM "&Print...", -7929

11) The menu structure should now look like this with the 'Print' item added...

128 MENU
{
POPUP "&File"
{
MENUITEM "&New...\tCtrl+N", -7936
MENUITEM "&Open...\tCtrl+O", -7935
MENUITEM "&Save...\tCtrl+S", -7933
MENUITEM "Save &As...", -7932
MENUITEM "&Print...", -7929
MENUITEM SEPARATOR
MENUITEM "&Write Distribution File (DPK)...", -32670
MENUITEM SEPARATOR
etc.....................

12) Select the 'Viewer/Commit changes' menu item in Restorator
13) Select the 'File/Save As' menu item in Restorator and save the modified executable as say MCEditor1.exe
14) Close Restorator
15) Run the modifed mission editor and you should now have a 'Print' item on the 'File' menu. Select it and you should be presented with a printer dialog box. Setting your printer to landscape mode is best.

Although you are free to do this on your own computer you should not distribute the modified executable as you would infringe copyright.