Many custom scripts need extra information to function. They may use an already existing property, but most often there isn’t anything suitable. So a special string property is used to give options to the scripts. In Thief this is Editor→Design Note, and in System Shock 2 it is Script→Objlist arg. In this manual the property is referred to as the “design note”.

The design note consists of a list of parameter names and values separated with semi-colons (;). Parameter names do not contain spaces and are not case-sensitive. The parameter name is followed by = then the value. Any space before or after the value will be ignored. The value can be enclosed in single or double-quote marks, which must be done if you need to use a space, quote mark or semi-colon in the value. The value may be interpreted as an integer, real number, string, boolean, time, color, or object.

;Integer : A whole number, positive or negative. ;Real number : A positive or negative number with optional fractional part. Use a period (.) to separate the whole and fractional parts. ;String : Any kind of text. ;Boolean : A true or false value. The words true or yes, or a non-zero number will be considered true. You can also shorten the word to a single letter, i.e. T for true and F for false. ;Time : As a number by itself, it’s milliseconds. Put the letter s after the number for seconds, and m for minutes. ;Color : Color values can be written in HTML format, which is a hash mark (#) followed by six hexadecimal digits. The English color names described in HTML 4 are also recognized. Another way to specify a color is the red, blue, and green components (in that order) separated with commas. ;Object : A Dromed object. Can be the numeric ID, or the name of the object.

Where an integer, boolean, time, or color is requested, you can substitute the name of a quest variable for the value. Type a dollar sign ($) followed by the name of the quest variable.