9 replies to this topic

[Rich Nagel]

Finally got off of my butt and uploaded some of my C&C stuff to one of my servers Some of the stuff is for the DOS version of Command and Conquer, but some of it should work OK with the Windows version.

Surf here -> http://www.cmoo.com/...nd_and_Conquer/ , and enjoy

[Nyerguds]

Hm...

-the Hidden Music Selector Pack... You DO know there's a WinAmp plugin to listen to C&C type AUD files, right? Oh and XCC Mixer can play them too, obviously.

-the Original Stock Missions Pack, it's actually quite easy to edit the exe to allow you to select the missions below 20, but of course the game won't return to the main menu after you finish it
On a related note, this does take away the dificulty of Nod mission #6 because any building you blow up will trigger the Win flag.

-the Grenade Throw Sound Effect Enabler: Actually, just putting toss.aud in the directory is enough. No need to put it in a mixfile.

-the Hidden Options Enabler v3.0: seems you still got the description of the Overrun option wrong. It doesn't disable growing of tiberium, only the other 2. It also kinda surprises me that it doesn't have an option to enable /disable the LAN-against-PC-only skirmish.
Also, SCZOUNDS.MIX is originally called ZOUNDS.MIX and located on all of the DOS C&C CDs. But since the WW people messed up the code, the file is never read. (ZOUNDS.MIX is read only if the beta sounds option is enabled, but the code that sets the beta sounds option is executed AFTER the code that reads ZOUNDS.MIX)



On a side note, I get pretty annoyed by the "sc-###.mix" filenames
Westwood used those, yes, but it's not a limitation. Any mixfile starting with "sc" and ending on ".mix" will be read. For example, my patch 1.06 for C&C95 uses "scores2.mix" to add the extra music. (scores.mix itself will also be read as sc*.mix file if it's in the game folder. I think this even causes a crash in DOS C&C because it later tries to read it again when getting to the actual scores.mix reading code)

Edited by Nyerguds, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 - 01:40 PM.

[Rich Nagel]

the Hidden Music Selector Pack... You DO know there's a WinAmp plugin to listen to C&C type AUD files, right? Oh and XCC Mixer can play them too, obviously.

Yep, I knew that, but I simply wanted an easy way (sort of) to listen to them within the game.

the Original Stock Missions Pack, it's actually quite easy to edit the exe to allow you to select the missions below 20, but of course the game won't return to the main menu after you finish it

I never realized that before, thanks for the info

On a related note, this does take away the dificulty of Nod mission #6 because any building you blow up will trigger the Win flag.

Like above, I never realized that, thanks for the info

the Grenade Throw Sound Effect Enabler: Actually, just putting toss.aud in the directory is enough. No need to put it in a mixfile.

Remember we had discussed that before, for some reason that doesn't work in my DOS version of C&C. The only way that I could get the sound effect to play was to add it to a MIX file.

the Hidden Options Enabler v3.0: seems you still got the description of the Overrun option wrong. It doesn't disable growing of tiberium, only the other 2.

Thanks for the reminder I had forgotten about changing the description before I compiled that last version. I'll edit the description when I create a new version of it (prolly when/if I add an option for the thing you were talking about that causes the AI not to ally in a multiplayer game, after you locate the offset).

It also kinda surprises me that it doesn't have an option to enable/disable the LAN-against-PC-only skirmish.

I'm not sure what you're refering to (?). When starting a multiplayer game, you can enable or disable the computer AI players in-game. In other words, as an example, for a normal human 6-player LAN game you can select "6" for the amount of players within the utility, start a multiplayer game, and then simply not enable the AI players in the "Network Game Setup" menu.

For a 'fake' LAN game against AI players, you simply select the option to disable the human players check, select the total amount of players (2/3/5/6 - note that when that option is 'disabled' it defaults to the standard '4'), and enable AI players in the "Network Game Setup" menu within the game.

Also, SCZOUNDS.MIX is originally called ZOUNDS.MIX and located on all of the DOS C&C CDs. But since the WW people messed up the code, the file is never read. (ZOUNDS.MIX is read only if the beta sounds option is enabled, but the code that sets the beta sounds option is executed AFTER the code that reads ZOUNDS.MIX)

Similar to TOSS.AUD thing, the only way that I could get the game to play the beta sounds was to name the file SCZOUNDS.MIX (even though the GAME.NEW has ZOUNDS.MIX). If I have the SCZOUNDS.MIX file in my C&C directory, and if I enable the beta sounds option, I can then hear the beta sound effects.

BTW, you mentioned that the ZOUNDS.MIX file is on the DOS C&C CDs, the file isn't on any of mine (I originally downloaded the file from your site <G>).

On a side note, I get pretty annoyed by the "sc-###.mix" filenames Westwood used those, yes, but it's not a limitation. Any mixfile starting with "sc" and ending on ".mix" will be read.

Hehe, actually the reason that I had used that naming convention was because of another problem that I had when experimenting with the beta sound effects. In another thread we had discussed some of the "WSA" format animations not being played, and the problem seemed to be random (although it always happened when I copied the SCZOUNDS.MIX file to my C&C directory). I also noticed that the bug reared it's ugly head if I had a lot of MIX files located in my C&C directory, but I could never quite put my finger on it... it seemed to be a bit random when it happened.

Anyhow, a 'rig' of a fix that I stumbled upon was to create a new MIX file, and add all of C&C's WSA animations to it. I then named the mix file SC-999.MIX, and if I copy my 'custom' DOS version of C&C to any PC, that file will always be the last MIX file copied to the hard drive (so it will load in last, and effectively fixes the WSA problem).


P.S. A general note: A lot of the crapola on that server some severely old stuff <G>, I simply updated the readmes with new contact info before uploading it

Edited by Rich Nagel, Tuesday, 23 December 2008 - 03:34 PM.

[Nyerguds]

For a 'fake' LAN game against AI players, you simply select the option to disable the human players check

Oh, I missed that one on the screenshot... that was what I was looking for

Edited by Nyerguds, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 - 10:14 AM.

[Rich Nagel]

Oh, I missed that one on the screenshot... that was what I was looking for

Hehe, that's the one that I've been having an absolute blast with in C&C recently <G>

[Nyerguds]

as for the rest...

Similar to TOSS.AUD thing, the only way that I could get the game to play the beta sounds was to name the file SCZOUNDS.MIX (even though the GAME.NEW has ZOUNDS.MIX). If I have the SCZOUNDS.MIX file in my C&C directory, and if I enable the beta sounds option, I can then hear the beta sound effects.

Um, read my post... I just explained why ZOUNDS.MIX isn't read. It's only read if the beta sounds option is enabled... but the code that enables it is only executed AFTER the mix file reading part, so it's can't be enabled yet at the moment it checks it. It's a stupid programmer error. I've found a load of similar order-of-execution errors like that, like the fact that if C&C95 can't set the video mode, it tries to show an error message box with text read from the strings file (conquer.eng). Only at that point the strings file isn't even loaded into memory. The error message box you get is mysteriously empty X_x

BTW, you mentioned that the ZOUNDS.MIX file is on the DOS C&C CDs, the file isn't on any of mine (I originally downloaded the file from your site <G>).

Really? That's odd. You don't happen to have one of these later releases where the installed game is v1.22 right away?

Hehe, actually the reason that I had used that naming convention was because of another problem that I had when experimenting with the beta sound effects. In another thread we had discussed some of the "WSA" format animations not being played, and the problem seemed to be random (although it always happened when I copied the SCZOUNDS.MIX file to my C&C directory). I also noticed that the bug reared it's ugly head if I had a lot of MIX files located in my C&C directory, but I could never quite put my finger on it... it seemed to be a bit random when it happened.

Anyhow, a 'rig' of a fix that I stumbled upon was to create a new MIX file, and add all of C&C's WSA animations to it. I then named the mix file SC-999.MIX, and if I copy my 'custom' DOS version of C&C to any PC, that file will always be the last MIX file copied to the hard drive (so it will load in last, and effectively fixes the WSA problem).

Actually, the LOWEST names have priority. Try it out... put 2 different missions with the same filename in 2 "sc-###.mix" files... The one with the lowest number will be the one you ca play. The one in the larger number mixfile will be ignored. That's because C&C only reads files with the same name once. The reason the sc*.mix file contents can "overwrite" the original game files is simply because they're read FIRST, before ALL other mixfiles.

Because of this, the file with the highest priority in all of the game is probably "sc.mix"

P.S. A general note: A lot of the crapola on that server some severely old stuff <G>, I simply updated the readmes with new contact info before uploading it

I kinda figured that, yes, especially from the keyboard shortcuts file and its instructions for copying a file straight to LPR, lol.

Edited by Nyerguds, Wednesday, 24 December 2008 - 10:28 AM.

[Rich Nagel]

Um, read my post... I just explained why ZOUNDS.MIX isn't read. It's only read if the beta sounds option is enabled... but the code that enables it is only executed AFTER the mix file reading part, so it's can't be enabled yet at the moment it checks it. It's a stupid programmer error. I've found a load of similar order-of-execution errors like that, like the fact that if C&C95 can't set the video mode, it tries to show an error message box with text read from the strings file (conquer.eng). Only at that point the strings file isn't even loaded into memory. The error message box you get is mysteriously empty X_x

Ahhhh, I understand now. Either way, renaming it to SCZOUNDS.MIX allows it to play with my DOS version of C&C when the beta sfx are enabled

Really? That's odd. You don't happen to have one of these later releases where the installed game is v1.22 right away?

Nope. A fresh install of mine is v1.20. Hmmm... are there any other 'goodies' on the v1.22 CDs <G>?

Actually, the LOWEST names have priority. Try it out... put 2 different missions with the same filename in 2 "sc-###.mix" files... The one with the lowest number will be the one you ca play. The one in the larger number mixfile will be ignored. That's because C&C only reads files with the same name once. The reason the sc*.mix file contents can "overwrite" the original game files is simply because they're read FIRST, before ALL other mixfiles. Because of this, the file with the highest priority in all of the game is probably "sc.mix"

Thanks for the detailed explaination Strange that my 'rig' of a fix (the SC-999.MIX file with the WSA animations) would work.

I kinda figured that, yes, especially from the keyboard shortcuts file and its instructions for copying a file straight to LPR, lol.

Hehe, really confuse folks with those DOS commands "COPY/B WHATEVER.PRN PRN" <G>. Not to mention, my old dot-matrix printer <LOL>!

[Nyerguds]

My original install is 1.07; the very original release version. This one has zounds.mix.

I've never heard of a 1.20 C&C release though. Normally, The Covert Operations upgrades it to 1.20. I mean the version your game has BEFORE instaling C.O.

Edited by Nyerguds, Thursday, 25 December 2008 - 03:14 AM.

[Rich Nagel]

I've never heard of a 1.20 C&C release though. Normally, The Covert Operations upgrades it to 1.20. I mean the version your game has BEFORE instaling C.O.

Whoops! I made a mistake <G>. I dug out my original install CDs, and my C&C install CDs are indeed v1.22 (GAME.NEW is v1.22, while the included GAME.DAT is simply 0 bytes - to prevent the Cov.Ops. installer from 'downgrading' the game), while the Covert Operations CD contains v1.20 of the GAME.DAT file.

Anyhoo, the ZOUNDS.MIX file isn't included on any of these CDs.

[Nyerguds]

Exactly as I thought. They trimmed the 'useless' files from that later release.