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Huge C&C1 Singleplayer mappack

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Hey people for the case that not everyone of you hang around on moddb I want to share this information with you here as well.

 

Recently I've checked through some old backup Cd's and found a huge mappack. It's 73mb big and consists of maybe 200 SP missions and 30 campaigns.

 

Most missions were only in Savegame format and wont work with v1.6 nor v1.2 but maybe some mappers of you can make em 1.6 compatible by adding them into the new missions menu if that's possible with savegames not sure.

 

However there are still dozens of maps working only with COVERT OPS so make sure to check it out. I've tested and played many maps from my pack already with 1.6 and they're working all fine so far.

 

Please note that you wont find 80% of the maps anymore in the net because the websites which hosted the files vanished long time ago. So that gives the files a gold value.

 

Well have fun.

 

http://www.moddb.com/members/23-down/addon...ppacks-treasure

Edited by 23-down

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There's no way to convert savegames between DOS C&C and C&C95 anyway; that's not a 1.06 issue. To load old C&C95 savegames in 1.06, all you need to do is switch to low resolution.

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There's no way to convert savegames between DOS C&C and C&C95 anyway; that's not a 1.06 issue. To load old C&C95 savegames in 1.06, all you need to do is switch to low resolution.

 

Aha ok.. :) Anyway many maps also came with a Ini and a mapfile... So it should be possible to convert those old maps which aren't in CO yet into Covert Ops.

 

The remaining maps are already playable in Covert Ops.. Did you download it?

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I downloaded it from the moment you linked it to me on youtube :P

 

To "convert" a mission to Covert Ops, all you need to do is rename it to a .ini+.bin file pair named SC[G/B]##EA format, with ## a number above 20 :)

 

Oh, and make sure there's a "Name=" key in the [basic] section of the ini file.

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Rename what to a bin the map file or the ini ?

 

Anyway I'm going to try it out.. Didn't knew that it was that simple.

 

@EDIT: Ok it was easy nice... that's awesome finally I can play all those maps.. Never played em.. :)

Edited by 23-down

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if you have a .map and a .ini, and you NEED a .bin and a .ini, the answer to the question of which one needs renaming isn't that hard, is it? :P

 

Note that in the original campaign, before 1.06b, the Buildlevel= setting in the ini file was ignored, and the game just took the mission number you were on as build level instead. This made a lot of mission makers ignore the Buildlevel= setting in the ini file, and just added a readme with "make it replace GDI #15" or something like that.

 

 

Since I removed this annoyance in 1.06b (so you CAN make a mission #1 replacement with buildlevel 5 now), you have to keep this in mind, and always make sure that Buildlevel= key is set corrrectly.

 

For the Covert Ops you would have to do that anyway, since they CAN'T use the mission number, since mission numbers are irrelevant for the extra missions.

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Ah good that you mentioned that I already wondered why some missions just came with soldiers buildable while you were under attack by mammuth tanks etc.

 

Anyway I guess I will try to create my own mission now.. Only 1 thing is odd. Your new Winter terrain isn't working when I select it in the editor it always crashes right away... Any fix for that or an idea why it is happening? I'm actually not sure if it really reads the files that are in your C&C Folder stored and not the files from my old original C&C95 install.

Edited by 23-down

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My new terrain isn't Winter but Snow, and obviously no existing editors know it even exists. You have to make maps in Temperate, and then change the Theater=TEMPERATE line in the ini to Theater=SNOW to use it in missions.

 

Mind you, Snow has exactly the same tiles as Temperate, but NOT as Winter. The tiles that Winter has more, like snow patches,. are obviously useless in an all-snow terrain. So don't use them either. Just go from Temperate to Snow.

 

 

btw, XCC Editor is being upgraded to support Snow terrain, but I don't know when the new version will be released.

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I was kind of lost in all the modding talk. Does this work with the 1.06 patch? If there's any special things you have to do to get the maps to work, what are they?

 

200 mission pack is AMAZING O_O

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There hasn't been any modding talk here as far as I know...

 

As for the snow theater, it's added by patch 1.06b, which indeed means it's already usable. Any Temperate mission can be changed to Snow theater simply by opening the mission's ini-file and changing the "Theater=Temperate" line under [MAP] to "Theater=Snow".

 

 

As for how to play the missions... here's an excerpt from my C&C Mission Making Manual:

====================================
4. HOW TO MAKE YOUR MISSION PLAYABLE
====================================
You can play the missions without messing around in the general.mix:
Just rename your mission files to the format described here.

Syntax:
        SCB01EA.BIN
         || |||  |
    1 <--'| |||  `-> 6
      2 <-' ||`-> 5
        3 <-'`-> 4


1. The name of every mission file starts with "SC". This means "scenario".
2. Player. Choose from:
       G: Goodguy (GDI)
       B: Badguy (Nod)
       J: JP (for Funpark missions)
       M: Multi (For multiplayer maps)
3. Number of the mission it replaces (here mission 01)
4. E/W: The "W" is only used with GDI mission 4 and 5.
   This could be East/West on the map where you choose your mission.
5. A/B/C: In the game, you can sometimes choose more than one mission
   on the map. The "B" and "C" (and the "W" from 4.) don't work for
   multiplayer and Covert Operations missions.
6. BIN/INI: You always need two files: a map and a text file.
   BIN is the extension for the map file, INI for the text file.

C&C will accept your .INI and .BIN as the normal mission files, and you will
be able to play the mission.


================================
4.1 ADDING NEW COVERT OPERATIONS
================================
When you have the Covert Operations installed, you can also add missions
to the "New missions" list by giving them a mission number higher than 19
(starting from 20) that isn't already used by the Covert Ops. / Special Ops.
missions.

The available numbers are:

- For GDI:  20, 21, 24..35, 42, 49, 53..59, 64..99

- For Nod:  22..29, 34, 36, 38, 39, 42..59, 62..99

Note that for the Covert operations you can't add missions ending on EB, EC,
WA, WB or WC (See: "4. HOW TO MAKE YOUR MISSION PLAYABLE"). Only files ending
on "EA" will be accepted. The others won't appear in the "New missions" list.

Now, you have to make sure the "BuildLevel=" setting is set correctly.
This doesn't affect normal missions, but is necessary in Covert Operation
missions. This can be 0 to 99, but it is advised only to use 1 to 98,
as 99 lets you build stuff like the Hospital and Biolab, the civilians and
the MHQ.


You 'll also have to give your mission a name by puting "Name=xxx" in the
[bASIC] section, where xxx is the name you want to give it. This name can
be some 33 characters in length.
Note that, as I already said, the current patch (1.06b) DOES enable the Buildlevel= setting for campaign missions. This manual was written ages ago, and I'm not sure if I can be bothered to update it.

 

Patch 1.06c (the next patch, which isn't released yet) will expand the Covert Ops list to 999 missions for each side, and will use the EA/EB/EC/ED/EE/WA/WB/... alternatives as next missions in a row. These will not be shown on the menu, but they will play automatically after finishing the first one with that mission number, meaning one list entry will continue to next missions to play as a campaign.

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Hi,

 

I'm gonna organize all these files, in part.

 

- I'm renaming the ZIP files by adding in the name ".MAP", ".DIZ", "*.BIN" to flag the content of the ZIP files. This way I know also those files that are ready to play on 1.06B r2 patch;

 

- I created an archive called BRIEFINGS where I'm gonna UNZIP all the *.TXT and analyse what to play first;

 

- One step I'll wait a bit is to contact all that people (e-mails) related in every *.TXT mission file. Most must be OFF anyway;

 

- For the SCG/B Coding, I'll wait for the rest of the community and the next patch, since it requires a more experienced organizer.

 

If any of you have some better ideas, let me know me, here or via MSN.

 

Before I forget, thanks for the pack. It's really a great finding.

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eh, .diz? Those are just readme files. Open them in notepad :P

 

Another note, there's a pack of German missions somewhere that I already organized and translated; it can be found here:

http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/cncstu...ons/kohlrus.zip

I've made it use the 1.06b translation system to make sure the original German briefings are still shown if the player has put the game language to German.

 

btw, solo, sorting out maps and ini files is one thing, but do you know how to handle missions packed in mix files?

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I only need one for the 1.06c manual, actually. Which is a huuuuge file.

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Rumors it is ONLY 15 pages...

 

C&C95 briefing of all missions should be what? 5 pages

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As I don't know its true size, i'd gladly translate that. :)

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"btw, solo, sorting out maps and ini files is one thing, but do you know how to handle missions packed in mix files?"

 

No, if it doesn't take too much of your time I'd like to know how to handle mix files.

A link with general explanation would work fine also.

 

I've note that some ZIPs are mini-campaigns to substitute the older original missions in DOS format or so.

Their SCB/G coding are lower than 20, therefore, don't run in Covert Ops.

 

Other ZIPs don't have BIN/MAP and INI files , just the description and a SAVEGAME.

Apparently this means that the mission won't run.

 

And there's one mission - ARROW.ZIP - that failed to open. I just got a black screen and a error message.

 

Moving on to the letter E *.ZIP missions tonight ehehehheeheeh

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the Covert Ops is an expansion after all, not everyone has it, and people made missions before the release of the expansion.

 

As I mentioned before, on the original C&C, you could not have a mission 1 replacement in which you had the construction options of mission 12. So they had to replace specific missions for that.

 

On top of that, the SCX##EA.INI/BIN system wasn't figured out yet, meaning the old missions aren't named correctly, but were rather replaced in the original general.mix file, where people had already identified which file was part of which mission, but did not have filenames for them yet. Needless to say this was rather messy.

This was especially true for the .bin files - they figured out the naming format quite fast (it's shown on the ingame menu after all), and that the ini-format files should be called .ini was a no-brainer, but no one knew the extension for the maps. Which is why so many maps have a .map extension instead of the correct .bin one.

 

So yeah, if you got missions which specifically say they replace GDI mission 15, make sure to open the ini and set the Buildlevel to 15. And then rename them to any Covert Ops list number you want :)

 

As for campaigns, see the readme of the 1.06c patch on how to make them into a minicampaign for the New Missions menu. It's not that hard, really, all you need to do is rename the EA part of the missions after the first one so they follow as EB, EC, ED, EE, WA, WB, etc :)

 

 

Savegame missions: these are useless. Sad but true. The C&C95 and DOS C&C savegame format is incompatible, meaning you can only play them on DOS C&C.

 

Arrow.zip: I don't know what you're trying to open it with, but Windows Explorer's own Compressed Folders support opens it just fine, and so does winrar.

 

[edit]

 

Oh right, about those mixfiles... it's quite simple really, and the Covert Ops shows the format. Any .mix file with a name starting with "sc" will be read by the game, which makes them handy for storing multiple missions.

 

Be careful with that though... I've had some problems with storing many missions with very similar names in mixfiles. The mix format doesn't store filenames but rather a 4-byte value calculated from the filename. Especially when using the minicampaigns system, having a lot of files with names that only differ on one characer increases the chance that 2 of the filenames have the same calculated ID. Really annoying, but there's no way of fixing it.

 

For example, I had to change the minicampaign names from EA-EB-EC-ED-EL to EA-EB-EC-ED-EE because GDI Funpark mission 3 (SCG20EC.INI) ended up having the same ID as Nod Funpark mission 5 (SCB20EL), meaning that when I tried adding the second file into the mixfile, it overwrote the one with the same ID instead of being added :P

Note that putting the files in separate mixfiles doesn't even solve this, since the game, looking for the file by ID, will always find the same file first.

 

Note that to make mixfiles, you have to use XCC MIX EDITOR, part of the XCC Utilities pack. It's very important that you use that specific tool from the pack though. The normal "XCC Mixer" only produces Tiberian Sun type mix files, and if you open "XCC Editor", you'll end up looking at a C&C1 map editor :P

In XCC Mix Editor, be sure to make sure you put the mixfile type to Tiberian Dawn before putting ANY files in it, and to use the 'Compact' button to save.

 

As for how to get missions OUT of mixfiles, well, that's what XCC Mixer is for ;)

http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/junk/t...opy-extract.png

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"... Arrow.zip: I don't know what you're trying to open it with, but Windows Explorer's own Compressed Folders support opens it just fine, and so does winrar ..."

 

Hi Nyerguds,

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.

What I was trying to say is the game inside ARROW.zip were actually unziped and put on C:\westwood\C&C95 location and still didn't work out fine.

Just got a black screen, but that's ok, I'll move to the other hundred missions. It's a lot of stuff.

 

About the mix files I'll take a look into your tips and I already realized that organizing so many files will take a long time.

Not because of complexity, but the lack of time. As we use to say here in BR - "Little ant's job" ... rrssrsrsrrsrsrs

 

 

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You're still not clear.

 

Where exactly did you get that black screen? When starting C&C? when launching the mission?

 

[edit]

 

I got an error now... a real crash, when loading the mission. I'll see if I can figure out what causes it.

 

[edit again]

 

Found it; an illegal teamtype. The last teamtype in the list is:

 

gdi4=GoodGuy,0,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,3,E2:6,TRAN:1,3,Move:6,Unload:6,Attack Base:50,0,0

 

This teamtype only has 2 units, but the units counter (just before "E2") says "3". This crashes the reading of the teamtypes. Change it to "2" and the problem is fixed.

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OK, I did that and now it seems to be working fine.

I didn't play the whole mission yet.

Thanks once again, anyway

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Hi,

 

I've been auditing and organizing the missions of the pack:

- Adding "Name=" in some INI

- Adding "[briefing]"

- Recoding the file names

- Changing *.MAP to *.BIN

- Testing the start of the missions

 

I attached a sample of how the things are going so far.

 

I chose to start the recode at 100. Right now, I'm at 120 of the SCBs and 112 of the SCGs, as you can see in the *.XLS file inside the ZIP file. It doesn't seem much but the files have particularities, one by one.

After the job is done I'll take a look at MixMan. I know it would be better to do it with Mixmanager, but most of the job is editing the INI file and testing the mission startup.

As soon I have more things listed in New Missions menu I'll publish this Huge SP-Pack recoded for those that might be interested.

 

Feel free to contact anytime.

 

PS - I'm aware about the "##" in the end of the briefings lines ... eheheheheh

SCB110EA___Avatar.zip

Edited by Solo

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Why does the mission have SeparateHelipad, MCVUndeploy and NoEgoScreen enabled? Also, the [briefing] put inside the mission isn't the briefing from the mission.ini at all...

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Why does the mission have SeparateHelipad, MCVUndeploy and NoEgoScreen enabled? Also, the [briefing] put inside the mission isn't the briefing from the mission.ini at all...

 

SeparateHelipad, MCVUndeploy and NoEgoScreen enabled = personal preference

 

"Also, the [briefing] put inside the mission isn't the briefing from the mission.ini at all"

I didn't catch the doubt, but the authors provide their explanation of the missions in a *.TXT file.

At the same time they provide the original MISSION.INI inside the zip file.

I just put a resume of their missions inside the SC*000EA.INI

 

Or we would open the mission without knowing what it is about or having to open the *.TXT file.

 

 

 

Edited

SeparateHelipad, MCVUndeploy and NoEgoScreen enabled...

You mean, there's a proper way to personalize without harming the missions?

If YES, I should have suspected this before. Let me know and I'll change things here.

 

 

Edited

Here it is, in the CONQUER.ALT.INI

; --== Game behaviour options ==--

WheeledRotation=1 ; Makes wheeled vehicles not turn on the spot like tanks

SeparateHelipad=1 ; Build helipads without helicopters, for only $300

MCVUndeploy=0 ; Construction yard undeploys to MCV when you sell it.

 

and also in the user interface for the EGOSCREEN

 

OK, bad planning, I'll change. Thanks for the tip.

 

 

 

Edited

I went on to re-read the mission.ini of the sample

In this Avatar mission, the mission.ini is different of others zip.file.

I don't know why I had to change it, but I'll put it back.

Edited by Solo

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