Hey guys, its been awhile, I'd like some help here

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

I recently bought a copy of the first decade, having given my girlfriend (now my ex) my RA2/YR

 

I used to make crappy maps and mess with INIs, but now I am planning to combine both; a mod map.

 

Yesterday, I tried to make a high bridge. It wasn't functional in game. I read your bridge making guide. My mouse doesn't really drag the bridge pieces, they fall out of alignment. However, when i produce a low bridge, I can assemble it in pieces, and its fully functional, along with bridge repair huts.

 

I will need to be able to strip TS stuff and put it in the mod map. I know this is possible, having memories of playing maps with a Mammoth M2 walker in it, with the full graphics, although it used the Mayan Pyramid attack instead.

 

I also know its possible to put TS weapons effects into the mod map, I've played mod maps with a Mammoth M2 that used a grizzly tank without a turret but shot the correct rail gun particle animation

 

 

P.S. My modern machine with modern graphics card and 4g ram runs the game crappily compared to my old Pentium II! I don't know why, but my modern machine lags whenever there is weapons fire and my old machine could stand a battle with thousands of units of every type (I've done that before, in a modified map 1v1 game, 72 hours of battle)

Edited January 10, 2009 by NewAgeOfPower

[Nmenth 290]

Yesterday, I tried to make a high bridge. It wasn't functional in game. I read your bridge making guide. My mouse doesn't really drag the bridge pieces, they fall out of alignment. However, when i produce a low bridge, I can assemble it in pieces, and its fully functional, along with bridge repair huts.

Don't know of the bridge guide you speak of, but it sounds like you are building it one section at a time. You should build it using Special/Overlay -> Bridges.

 

I will need to be able to strip TS stuff and put it in the mod map. I know this is possible, having memories of playing maps with a Mammoth M2 walker in it, with the full graphics, although it used the Mayan Pyramid attack instead.

Some TS vehicles and aircraft were never removed from the art, including the Mk II. To put it in, all you need to do is make a unit with Image=HMEC. Some RA1 units even still exist, but don't really look very good anymore. To get the rest of the stuff that no longer exists, you need to extract it with XCC.

 

I also know its possible to put TS weapons effects into the mod map, I've played mod maps with a Mammoth M2 that used a grizzly tank without a turret but shot the correct rail gun particle animation

Run a search in the Rules for [LtRail] and [MechRailgun]. These are the still-existing codes for the Ghostalker and Mammoth rail gun weapons. Except for the Report audio, everything will work as is.

 

P.S. My modern machine with modern graphics card and 4g ram runs the game crappily compared to my old Pentium II! I don't know why, but my modern machine lags whenever there is weapons fire and my old machine could stand a battle with thousands of units of every type (I've done that before, in a modified map 1v1 game, 72 hours of battle)

Putting in rail guns won't help. You might want to read the Lagless Railguns tutorial on that, but it won't be 100% effective if your machine is already sucking.

Edited January 10, 2009 by Nmenth

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Yesterday, I tried to make a high bridge. It wasn't functional in game. I read your bridge making guide. My mouse doesn't really drag the bridge pieces, they fall out of alignment. However, when i produce a low bridge, I can assemble it in pieces, and its fully functional, along with bridge repair huts.

Do you mean high concrete bridges? Those are simple. You just drag from end to another in the same way as a low bridge. However, if it's too long, it won't work.

 

I will need to be able to strip TS stuff and put it in the mod map. I know this is possible, having memories of playing maps with a Mammoth M2 walker in it, with the full graphics, although it used the Mayan Pyramid attack instead.

With no art file, you can't use the Tiberian Sun leftovers. None of the art is designated and you'd either crash or have an invisible unit.

 

I also know its possible to put TS weapons effects into the mod map, I've played mod maps with a Mammoth M2 that used a grizzly tank without a turret but shot the correct rail gun particle animation

Most of the leftover Tiberian Sun weapons will work just fine since many of them are just machine gun fire and rockets, even the railer weapons work but they lag like crazy without the modifications I made with the Lagless Railguns tutorial NMenth posted a link to.

 

P.S. My modern machine with modern graphics card and 4g ram runs the game crappily compared to my old Pentium II! I don't know why, but my modern machine lags whenever there is weapons fire and my old machine could stand a battle with thousands of units of every type (I've done that before, in a modified map 1v1 game, 72 hours of battle)

http://esource.freedomstudios.net/misc/ddraw.rar

Put that in your \RA2\ directory and it _should_ really help out. If you get a black screen, it doesn't work and you can't use it.

[Nmenth 290]

With no art file, you can't use the Tiberian Sun leftovers. None of the art is designated and you'd either crash or have an invisible unit.

Not sure what you are talking about... Are you saying making a unit with Image=HMEC would crash? Because it doesn't. I have a list of all the RA1 and TS units that still exist graphically and can be used as simply as changing the Image.

Edited January 10, 2009 by Nmenth

[Doctor Destiny 41]

The vanilla art file doesn't reference them. The image won't show more than likely, but I have had crashes due to missing art entries.

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

I am using overlay, but the mouse doesn't really drag it, its like blinking pieces of the bridge down...

 

maybe i should upload one of the testmaps?

 

Interesting, i can't seem to upload, when i close the browse thing it doesn't appear next to it...

 

Oh yea, nmeth, i'd love the list

 

I remember seeing the buggy, recon bike, dship, mammoth original, M2, in a mod map in vanilla RA2

 

If the art does not exist in plain old RA2, there's no way to put it into a mod map?

Edited January 11, 2009 by NewAgeOfPower

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Okay, i found TibEd...

 

And no, if i made a unit with image HMEC it crashed the game.

 

Yikes

[Nmenth 290]

And no, if i made a unit with image HMEC it crashed the game.

That's strange, I never had this problem... I still have the map in which I first used the Mammoth Mk II.

Here be the code for it:

 

[WINI] ; Ye olde recreational vehicle
ROT=4
Name=Unrepentant
Armor=heavy
Image=HMEC
Owner=Russians,Confederation,Africans,Arabs,YuriCountry,Americans,Alliance,Frenc
h,Germans,British
Sight=9
Speed=2
Points=500
UIName=Name:Unrepent
Crusher=yes
Primary=W-UltimateLaser
Sensors=yes
Category=AFV
DieSound=NukeExplosion
Explodes=yes
PipScale=none
Strength=25000
Locomotor={55D141B8-DB94-11d1-AC98-006008055BB5}
Maxdebris=12
CrushSound=NukeExplosion
DebrisTypes=PIECE
Parasiteable=no
PhysicalSize=15
Prerequisite=
SensorsSight=9
Insignificant=no
DetectDisguise=yes
ImmuneToPsionics=yes

This is all I set up for the unit, using only the INI editor within FA2. No Art, no other modding programs. So why didn't it crash the game?

 

PS You might wonder why it has 25000 strength, it's because this was a survival map in which you were hit by 16 waves of enemy forces, then this guy shows up as the final 'boss'. After it is killed, the computer's base, which had an indestructible con yard, becomes vulnerable and can be wasted to complete the trial.

[Nmenth 290]

Well, I'm not sure how these images are supposed to be 'referenced' since I never had to, but here is the list.

 

Red Alert 1 (and/or Tiberian Dawn) units:

1TNK ; Light tank

2TNK ; Medium tank

3TNK ; Heavy tank

4TNK ; Mammoth tank

ARTY ; Artillery

JEEP ; Humm-vee

M113 ; An APC

MLRS ; The MLRS

MNLY ; Mine layer

TRAN ; Chinook

TRUK ; Truck

MRJ ; Radar jammer

 

Tiberian Sun units:

APACHE ; Nod helicopter

APC ; Amphibious APC

ART2 ; Nod artillery

BGGY ; Nod buggy

BIKE ; Nod attack bike

CARGOCAR ; Train car

DPOD ; Drop pod

DSHP ; Drop ship

HMEC ; Mammoth Mk II

ICBM ; ICBM launcher

LPST ; Mobile sensor array

MMCHBARL ; Barrel from the Titan

MONOCAR ; Train car

MONOENG ; Train engine

ORCA ; Orca fighter

ORCAB ; Orca bomber

ORCATRAN ; Orca transport

PROBE ; A tiny thing

PULSCAN ; The EMP cannon's turret

SAPC ; Subterranean APC

SONIC ; Disruptor

STNK ; Stealth tank

TRUK2 ; Pickup truck

UTNK ; Prototype flame-tank

WEED ; Nod weed eater

 

Unused Red Alert 2 units:

BANA ; A banana (for a monkey weapon, apparently)

CPLANE ; A large blue airplane

FLAK ; Prototype flak cannon

FLATA ; Missile transport truck

FORTRESS ; An aircraft

FVTUR11 ; Unused IFV flamethrower turret

PHAL ; Some sort of unit

TRACTOR ; A small tractor

WRMN ; Prototype war miner with stationary turret

 

I will post a picture to show the RA2 images later...

[Doctor Destiny 41]

By referenced, I mean has a corresponding art entry. That's required to display art properly. The game won't magically make it appear because you set Image=whatever.

 

WRMN is the old, prerelease Ore Miner. Was originally used for both sides.

PHAL is the Phalanx Chrono Tank I believe. Obvious what that is.

FVTUR11 is used. It's the CowShot weapon, not a flamethrower.

PROBE was the original Hunter Seeker; IE, more prerelease stuff.

FLAK was the Allied Flak Cannon turret, I _think_. Not 100 percent though.

 

[EDIT] You missed SCRIN, the Banshee.

[Nmenth 290]

The game won't magically make it appear because you set Image=whatever.

Without trying to sound argumentative, it did for me.

 

WRMN is the old, prerelease Ore Miner. Was originally used for both sides.

PHAL is the Phalanx Chrono Tank I believe. Obvious what that is.

FVTUR11 is used. It's the CowShot weapon, not a flamethrower.

PROBE was the original Hunter Seeker; IE, more prerelease stuff.

FLAK was the Allied Flak Cannon turret, I _think_. Not 100 percent though.

 

[EDIT] You missed SCRIN, the Banshee.

I acquired this list, I did not make it myself. I would have credited the original site, but it is down. I labeled them that way because that was how they were labeled on the list and SCRIN was not among them.

 

I will post a picture to show the RA2 images later...

This may be delayed a while, my computer with RA2/YR on it is not currently uploading anything. @#$% perverse computers...

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Ick! final exam for college winter session approaching! I'll resume testing this Friday or so

[Nmenth 290]

Alright, here we have it:

1: BANA

2: CPLANE

3: FLAK

4: FLATA

5: FORTRESS

6: FVTUR11

7: PHAL

8: TRACTOR

9: WRMN

10: PROBE

 

Extra note, just because I can, these 10 vehicles are civilian units with the only modifications being Image=X and Turret=no (to undo previous Turret=yes settings I did). There is nothing more in the Rules, Art, or even Sound, that further identifies, references, or flags them. Yes, the game magically made them appear because I set Image=whatever. Can't explain why it doesn't crash for me, but it never has and I've used quite a few of these images in several mods.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Without trying to sound argumentative, it did for me.

Never has for me but then again, I don't Image very often and I usually have it on objects that exist in both files. Though, I find it best to stick with conventions. Westwood referenced every Image, which was used in art.

 

However, I'm not sure why it worked since it's not supposed to. The whole point of Image is have an object look like another through the art. How does the game know to draw HMEC as a voxel? Methinks you had an edited art file.

 

[EDIT] ModEnc confirms my suspicions. It doesn't work without the entry being present in the art.

[Nmenth 290]

Methinks you had an edited art file.

Where did I get this edited art file? I was using these Images before I even started editing the Art.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Nmenth

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Wait what what?

 

Can you add art into a map? If not, how did i see maps with the HMEC graphics?

 

I feel confused

[Nmenth 290]

Can you add art into a map? If not, how did i see maps with the HMEC graphics?

Yes, but since I never had to 'reference' the Images, I'm not sure how to explain how you can use them.

With the right program, you can do pretty much anything with this game.

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Refound this topic. Going to shut up and reread and test more before wasting anyone elses time.

 

Thanks.

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Okay. Crashes whenever I build EITHER of my new units, using 4TANK and HMEC as new images.

 

How do I upload the TibEd file?

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Sounds like missing art actually. When does it crash?

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Crashes as soon as unit finishes being built.

 

Came here to re-examine the arguement between you and Nmeth about referencing the image file... I clearly remember playing Vanilla YR, then a mod map with Mammoths and Mammoth M2 envoxeled objects...

 

So I opened up ART.MD in notepad and manually went over every line... no HMEC or 4TNK...

 

How does one reference the image anyways?

Edited March 26, 2012 by NewAgeOfPower

[Nmenth 290]

You need to add them to the Art. These are their codes from TS:

 

[4TNK]

Voxel=yes

Remapable=yes

PrimaryFireFLH=40,32,96

SecondaryFireFLH=-32,80,120

PBarrelLength=192

 

[HMEC]

Cameo=HMECICON

Voxel=yes

Remapable=yes

PrimaryFireFLH=80,100,158

SecondaryFireFLH=-60,100,158

UseTurretShadow=yes

ShadowIndex=12

 

 

What I said back then is still true, I never needed to reference the images in the list I provided. I merely made civilian vehicles with Image=x and they worked fine. Nevertheless, it apparently only works that way for me, must be my mods were simply inspired by my handsome good looks and longed to follow my will.

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

Cool. Thanks. I need a list of all files left over that I can add and reference.

 

Perhaps the reference errors are because I'm using the First Decade? It seems possible, as I played the mod maps many years back under a original YR box edition.... TFD might have sanitized the Art file.

[Nmenth 290]

Cool. Thanks. I need a list of all files left over that I can add and reference.

I gave the list back on this post, plus as DD pointed out, there is also [sCRIN] which is the Nod Banshee from TS/FS.

 

Perhaps the reference errors are because I'm using the First Decade? It seems possible, as I played the mod maps many years back under a original YR box edition.... TFD might have sanitized the Art file.

No. As far as I know, there are no differences in the regular YR and TFD other than the fact that TFD comes patched (which changes a few minor details).

 

Really, all you need to do to reference an image, is add the label to Art. For instance, merely adding [HMEC] is enough to make the game notice its existence. This does not necessarily make it function correctly however, which is what the rest of the code is for.

 

Since you are using TibEd, you can open the Tiberian Sun editor, find older units under Art and copy their codes from there. Then open the Red Alert 2 editor and paste the codes under the corresponding unit to enable its original functions.

 

As for the unused RA2 units, they may not have any codes at all, in which case you will have to fake it a bit. Just copy the codes from a similar unit that does exist and hope for the best. Screwing up codes in Art doesn't seem to cause as many crashes as Rules though, so it's not that big of a problem.

[NewAgeOfPower 0]

ITS ALIVE!!! IT ALL WORKS! THANK YOU!

 

DELICIOUS MODIFICATION!

 

And I'm amazed, even after setting pertubation to 0, my current ultramodern quad graphics card rig slows down *slightly* when many railguns are in play...

 

Quick question- any unused infantry art in the files I can use? Also, can you point me to a cameo editing guide? Been looking at Deezire but its quite confusing...

Edited March 30, 2012 by NewAgeOfPower