I truly wish this part was avoidable, but due to some negligence o­n the part of a programmer, I am left explaining how to setup this program to work properly. Don't lose faith in a program that requires instructions for setup. In the end, you will find it was worth the trouble (not much trouble at that). I will try to make this as painless as possible.

1. Locate, download and unzip (but don't install) the Soldier of Fortune SDK zip file known as SOFSDK. I will get to the installation process soon. Try to get the most recent version (1.1 as of this note) since older versions are somewhat incomplete. It can be found in almost every location that you would expect to find a custom SOF map. You should be able to find o­ne through o­ne of the links o­n this site (whichever site you are reading this tutorial from). This file will contain SOFRadiant, a sample map of the first level of SOF and other source files used to modify the game into just about whatever you can conceive.

2. Locate,download and install a pak explorer/unpacker. You will need this in order to extract needed files from the games pak file. QPed and Winpack are very well-rated.I leave the choice up to you since I haven't yet found o­ne that upset me (I don't get frustrated with poorly constructed programs anymore. Upset would be a more appropriate term).

3. Open up your newly acquired PAK explorer and open the SOF pak file which can be found at C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\PAK0.pak (providing you used the default path.)(Please tell me you used the default path when installing the game). Then unpack the folder labeled textures into your C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\ folder then creating C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\textures\* (* = several other wonderful textures folders)(fig.1).

Next, unpack the file Pics/colormap.pcx into you C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\ folder creating the folder C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\Pics (fig.2). This file will be needed in order to successfully compile (number crunch your ideas into a working model) your maps into bsp files (the file extension recognized by SOF for as game levels).

3.5. Now go ahead and install the SofSDK. o­nce again, I suggest using the default paths. (NOTE: Not using the default paths may result in errors. A file named Sof.qe4 from the next step contains path information that may need to be edited using notepad if using another path or drive.) (Thanks KillerPoRn)

4. Make sure the file C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\SOF.QE4 (or Default.QE4) exists. If it doesn't, you must have downloaded an incomplete version and must locate and download this file.

5. Copy the following files to the C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\maps\ folder:

C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\sofarghrad.exe C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\sofbsp.exe C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\sofbspinfo.exe C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\sofvis.exe

And copy C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\entities.def to the C:\Program Files\Raven\SOF\base\ folder.

6. Now you can finally get o­n with running the editor (or almost that is). Run the program C:\Program Files\SOFSDK\Bin\sofradiant.exe. Upon the first execution of the program, you will be asked to set the preferences. Most of them can be set to your liking except for the following (fig.3):

You will then be asked to open a project file. Choose to open Sof.QE4 (or Default.QE4). Afterwards, everything should be up and running and you will be looking at unnamed.map.

I would suggest you fool around with the program at this point in order to familiarize yourself with the program and where most things are located. I will point out the locations of what you need as we proceed from here, but if you've come this far, I'm sure your ready to experiment. Also, since all the commands are not actually located in the toolbar, be sure to check out the command list in the Help section. This list is full of all the necessary hot-keys and will prove to be invaluable (and easily memorized o­nce you get started).