Editor Tools — reference records¶

The four authoring/config EXEs shipped with MW4: Mercenaries. They are reference records only — never oracle targets. Hashes are in reference\SHA256.txt; the Ghidra analysis projects and dumps are not part of this repository.

Tool	File	Purpose	Functions	Doc
NFMEditor	`reference\NFMEditor.exe`	Edits `.nfm` multiplayer/server configs + `servercycle.txt` (GameOS "info file" grammar)	1,129	`nfmeditor.md`
MapCreator	`reference\MapCreator.exe`	Builds maps: heightfield/interest bitmap → info-file map def → Tctd.exe → `#VBD` `.mw4` map archive	1,556	`mapcreator.md`
MW4Ed2	`reference\MW4Ed2.exe`	Mission editor embedding the full game runtime; writes `Resource\Missions\*.mw4` mission archives (serialized `MechWarrior4::MWMission` object graph + lights/drop-zones/sky/bounds/ABL scripts)	11,388	`mw4ed2.md`
autoconfig	`reference\autoconfig_MERCS.exe`	GameOS AutoConfig / driver diagnostics: probes hardware + D3D caps, tests renderers, writes `options.ini` + `VideoCard.txt` + `Microsoft Games\<game>` registry key	1,128	`autoconfig.md`

The data-file picture¶

File	Producer	Consumer	Format
`Resource\Maps\*.mw4`	MapCreator	game	`#VBD` v4 archive (map def → Tctd.exe output)
`Resource\MISSIONS\*.mw4`	MW4Ed2	game	`#VBD` v4 archive (multi-group directory; mission object + aspects + scripts)
`Resource\Missions\.nfm` / `UserMissions\.nfm`	NFMEditor (+ MW4Ed2 scenario dialogs)	game server	GameOS "info file" text
`servercycle.txt`	NFMEditor	game server	info-file rotation list (`map=Name::Scenario`)
`options.ini`	autoconfig (game startup autoconfig too)	game	INI with Graphics/Sound/Special options

Notes¶

Common base: NFMEditor, MapCreator and autoconfig are thin MFC shells (dynamic MFC42) over the bundled GameOS framework; MW4Ed2 is the same but at roughly 10× the scale, embedding the full game runtime (blade/gundll/ DirectPlay/ABL/localization) — 11,388 functions.
Format of record: MW4Ed2's mission #VBD member layout is the deepest remaining open question (multi-group directory encoding — see the include/mw4/vbd.h follow-up note).
Cross-references: the game's own CLI/option surface (-noautoconfig, option table 0x0076C918) matches what autoconfig writes. These docs are reference material for the oracle analysis only.