Editing RA2 - Yuri's Revenge

[LJ-38M 0]

Hi, people. I've been editing C&C games on my PC for some time. Currently, I'm working on RA2-YR, and I have a couple of questions I need some help with.

 

One of the changes I've been trying to make is to improve the visual range of most units, but for some reason, it never seems to get any greater than 9 or 10 squares - which is a major problem when a lot of your weapons have been edited for a range of over 10, and you're left with no choice but to send out a few suicidal recon units ahead...

The Typhoon is one example. Even with an exaggerated visual range, like 30 squares or so, it doesn't "see" anywhere near that much, only 9 or 10 squares, though the sensors can spot enemy subs at that range. What could be causing this problem? And how can I solve it?

 

If I allow land units to cloak, will they play the same water sound as subs do? If so, how can I change it or disable it?

 

Also, is there a way to make units such as Dreadnoughts able to fire into shroud?

 

Is it possible to use .wav files from the PC in the game? For instance, if I want to change a weapon's report? (I also noted that some weapons play more than one file.)

 

Since RA2 and RA2-YR are so similar, is there a safe way of duplicating changes from one game to the other, easier than manually going through each change with two open editor windows?

 

Well, I guess that's all for now. Thanks, guys. Keep it real. 8)

[Doctor Destiny 41]

What could be causing this problem? And how can I solve it?

You don't solve it. The max sight 10 cells for units and structures. It's like Speed=. Anything over 100 has no effect.

 

If I allow land units to cloak, will they play the same water sound as subs do? If so, how can I change it or disable it?

Yes, cloaked units use the same sound as submerging naval units since that IS cloaking in this game. Find CloakSound= in the [AudioVisual] section and delete the sound so the tag is blank. As for making it on a unit basis, no good workarounds have been discovered.

 

Also, is there a way to make units such as Dreadnoughts able to fire into shroud?

No, unless you allow them to passively acquire, which is horribly imbalancing and very useless for them.

 

Is it possible to use .wav files from the PC in the game? For instance, if I want to change a weapon's report? (I also noted that some weapons play more than one file.)

Indeed it is. Drag and drop your WAV files into the audio.bag file using the XCC Mixer's Sound Editor.

 

Since RA2 and RA2-YR are so similar, is there a safe way of duplicating changes from one game to the other, easier than manually going through each change with two open editor windows?

Yes and no. If you want port units, weapons and associated groups, debris types and such, it's easy. Copy and paste, then add to the proper lists if necessary. However, changes in [General] or [AudioVisual] should be redone manually.

[LJ-38M 0]

Hi, Fenring. Thanks for your help. I've been trying to get that thing to work and I think I finally got the hang of it. Learned lots of new stuff, actually.

 

You don't solve it. The max sight 10 cells for units and structures. It's like Speed=. Anything over 100 has no effect.

 

Gee, that's too bad. Why not? There's gotta be a way around that.

 

In fact, there is one other thing I'd like to do, which is to increase the range of buildings occupied by GIs, conscripts and initiates. I've found what looks like the weapons used by occupied buildings (six weapons with the prefix "UC") and changed their range as I did for all the others, but it just didn't work. Occupied buildings still won't shoot at anything farther than 4 or 5 squares. Do you think this is related to the other problem of units' sight range?

 

One last question: suppose I built a map for YR and wanted all of my changes to work on it, including the new sounds I've added. How do we do that? Would it be necessary to include all of the modified audio.bag, rulesMD.ini, etc. files with the map?

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Gee, that's too bad. Why not? There's gotta be a way around that.

I could ask pd to look into it but it doesn't seem worth working around. As it stands, there's no way around these limits.

 

Occupied buildings still won't shoot at anything farther than 4 or 5 squares. Do you think this is related to the other problem of units' sight range?

Range on a UC weapon is completely moot. There's a controller in the [General] section that controls the occupy range and that tag would be OccupyWeaponRange. As it stands, it's set to 5 so that explains the issue.

 

One last question: suppose I built a map for YR and wanted all of my changes to work on it, including the new sounds I've added. How do we do that? Would it be necessary to include all of the modified audio.bag, rulesMD.ini, etc. files with the map?

You'd need to include everything that has modifications. Rules, art, sound, audi.bag/.idx, etc. That's a tad overbearing for a single map. Make a full blown mod with custom maps, else it's not a great idea.

[LJ-38M 0]

OK, maybe I will, one of these days. Thanks again.

[LJ-38M 0]

Hey, how about this: is it possible to make the Soviet Spy Plane look like one of Boris' MiGs? (Kind of like in the original Red Alert, remember?) Increasing the speed and changing the sounds and the sidebar icon are all easy tasks, but I can't figure out how to actually make it look like a MiG on the battlefield.

 

And there's another thing: arcing artillery weapons (Grand Cannon, Destroyer 155mm, Apocalypse 120mm, etc.) are very accurate when their target is at the same height, but when the target is on higher ground than the cannon, or when there's some elevation between the cannon and the target, the cannon always hits beyond the target. What is there to do about this?

 

The Dreadnought missiles have a similar problem: they cruise at about the same height as a cliff, and they can't hit anything above the launching ship, and they sometimes hit past the target as well. What can I do?

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Hey, how about this: is it possible to make the Soviet Spy Plane look like one of Boris' MiGs? (Kind of like in the original Red Alert, remember?) Increasing the speed and changing the sounds and the sidebar icon are all easy tasks, but I can't figure out how to actually make it look like a MiG on the battlefield.

There are 2 ways to do this and they're both easy. Simply add Image=BPLN to the [sPYP] entry, which is what I do. You can even take a copy of bpln.vxl, rename it spyp.vxl and put it in an expand mix. Either way works fine. However, if you use the Rock Patch, do the mix method else you may get crashiness.

 

And there's another thing: arcing artillery weapons (Grand Cannon, Destroyer 155mm, Apocalypse 120mm, etc.) are very accurate when their target is at the same height, but when the target is on higher ground than the cannon, or when there's some elevation between the cannon and the target, the cannon always hits beyond the target. What is there to do about this?

You can't do anything about this one. It's another one of those quirks in the game that comes from the design of the game and the engine itself. The map tiles are based upon cells so weapons will miss like you described since the unit is trying to hit a desired cell tile.

 

The Dreadnought missiles have a similar problem: they cruise at about the same height as a cliff, and they can't hit anything above the launching ship, and they sometimes hit past the target as well. What can I do?

This can be fixed, however. The rule remains the same but there's a tag that control this. In the [General] section, find the Dreadnought missile controls. There's a tag called DMislLazyCurve. It's set to no so set to yes and you'll have pinpoint Dreadnoughts. Don't do it with Boomers if in YR because it causes weird things to happen.