[Baldo_the_Don]

Long ago, but on this same couch on which I now sit, I used to play Mechwarrior 4, along with the Black Knight expansion, and MW4: Mercs.

These games came with a program for creating missions. It involved placing items, area triggers, and modifying the terrain. (AI and event setup was a nightmare, though.) Part of the mission creation that happened before you finished one was running the (I think it was called) the node creator. This analyzed the mission terrain you modified, the items you inserted, and basically, determined every spot on the map that an AI pilot could and could not move a 'mech to, connected all these points with a network of traversable paths, then incorporated this information into the final exported playable mission file. Or it was a separate file, I misremember.

What I'm saying is that I've had experience with a different game's mission editor that allows me to say here confidently that an 'ArcView Attribute Index Format' has nothing to do with DFBHD.

The following is pure conjecture, but:

Google "NovaLogic legal issues." NovaLogic had some legal issues with some of the software they were using to create games. My guess is that the .ain creator was one of those programs. Hence, it was never released to the public.

End conjecture.

To get an .ain creator, some good-hearted coder would need to deconstruct the game .exe, the .ain files, see how all this works, then invest time and energy into attempting to recreate one.

But at this late stage? Where JO, DFX1, and DFX2 apparently manage without?

I'm not holding my breath.