Unzip Designer.exe and blank.sil into your main silencer game directory (C:\Program Files\Mind Control Software\Silencer). Blank.sil is an empty map but you need the file in order to run designer. When you open designer.exe, you are given a list of all the maps in your silencer\levels directory. Open one of them. If you get an "Error in script blank.sil" message, try copying blank.sil to the Silencer\levels directory.

You may want to back up the original .sil files, in case you accidently overwrite them. You can do this by simply copying them to a new directory.

Scroll around the map with the arrow keys. The art that you see has nothing to do with the structure of the level, so you can change it without changing the levels physical properties such as ladders and platforms. This is a list of the important keys you will need to know in order to edit a level. Because the designer never made it to official release, there may be additional functions not listed here. Play around, see if you come up with anything.

• "-" Goes back one page in the current tile bank
• "=" Goes forward one page in the current tile bank
• "Shift" + "-" Goes back to the last tile bank with art.
• "Shift" + "=" Goes forward to the next tile bank with art.
• "1" - "8" Puts down 1 of the eight tiles from the current page.
• "F1" - "F12" Shortcuts to the first 12 tile banks
• "s" Save the current level
• "l" Load a new level
• "ESC" Quits designer
• "u" This will bring up a dialogue box that asks if you want to test the level. Click yes and Silencer will start up and immediately take you to the character selection screen. Chose a character and then the level will load. You will be playing it by yourself. Note that the level played will be the most recently saved version, so if you want to see your changes you'll need to save them first.
• "y" Changes the background art.
• "tab" Switches between Tile mode, Actor mode, and Platform mode. Actor mode will have actor banks instead of tile banks. Actors are things like terminals, guards, and animated objects. Platform mode is for building the levels structure.
• Within platform mode, holding "ctrl" while moving the cursor will select an area to add the platform (ladder, stairs, etc.) you have active. "Alt" will select an area from which to remove any structure.
• The plus and minus keys on the numpad will increase and reduce the ambiance of the map making it darker and lighter. These are all the important keys you will need to know to extract art from the game. I suggest opening an existing level and putting in all the tiles and actors that you want to copy, then test it and take screenshots. The screenshots will be in .pcx format and will be in your C:\Program Files\Mind Control Software\Silencer directory. Try using F5, F6, F7, or PRINT SCREEN to get screen shots.