Sonarpulse

https://github.com/cnc-patch/engine2/tree/master/

Now we just need to get some TD traffic on CnCNet

Ok, ok. I'd guess assembly is easy for stuff that works well with it--procedural programming or whatever. Then you hit a wall and everything else is terribly unintuitive.

true, but assembly's supposed to be the hardest of all

Well I guess it's he same guy who let XWIS get all EA'd up, speaking of crippled stuff.

wow, you must be the only person left knowing assembly but not C++

1. Ahahaha yes I did mean XCC mixer, guess I tried to make things more clear and ended up doing the opposite. 2. Good to know. If I remember correctly vqa2avi will load the mixes but not the file names from unencrypted ones too. 3. Also good to know. Funny that the XCC guy made both programs separate in the first place.

Oh well, you're doing a great job with just debuggers+assembly, and the plethora of new features only doable with higher-level code are not needed for good old CnC

SHIIITTTT. This is way cooler than openRA/freeRA/whateverRA in my book. go for the perfect clone, and then add new features. How similar is the DUNE II engine to TD again?

Wait, are they reverse engineering the entire program into C?

Ah, the empty redalert.mix is a copy of the empty main.mix which came with either fullRA+ or RAED (forget which). Kept both empty *.MIXs in case they were needed to fool some tool or something. All the sub *.MIXs but the ones I have "deprecated" (expand1.mix, expand2.mix, original hires1.mix, lores1.mix) have been moved to the main directory. All the files in the "deprecated" *.MIXs are now in other corresponding *.MIXs. Also I'll chime in and say I have been using exactly Nyerguds recommended procedure to edit *.MIXs. XCC mix editor is kinda finicky about editing mixes, won't compact them, and won't let you encrypt them (which doesn't so much make them more secure as make them look more orthodox to red alert and other tools)

Well in a way it's like the original game—original as in pre expansion red alert. Besides the movies the game has lots of redundant versions of things like conquers.eng and tutorial.ini, thetitle screen, etc. Movies2.mix is optional, remember, as the uncensored versionsof those clips are in movies1.mix. I guess I could put stuff back main.mix and redalert.mix.

Sonarpulse's Optimized *.mixs v1 Magnet Link (torrent)·Megaupload Well I finally got myself a release. Didn't abandon this after all. I'll Just kinda answer my own questions to get the ball rolling again I guess. Based on my rationals below, I decided to radically re-arrange stuff into less *.mixs. I'll still don't know, but seeing that only modders/developers need worry and they probably have their own RA directory setup and backups, I'll ignore it for now. Like I said, I read it just changed registry stuff. This convinced me chucking the expand#.mixs would be OK. Couldn't think of a reason so I went ahead and did it. The 3.03 patch has lots of stuff separated so it works with the different versions of RA. I only have english, this is an english patch, so I have chosen to radically use less *.mixs. ====Changes==== Here's a pretty comprehensive list of what I have done: /-------------Windows DIR output--------------\ /-----------------------------------My changes----------------------------------\ /---------------------Original use of the *.mixs----------------------\ 01/25/1999 211,145 wolapi.mix > Untouched > Orginial westwood online componets 01/13/2004 0 redalert.MIX > Empty file, RA+ had this so I figured it is useful > Used to hold all the original game direcotry *.mixs 01/13/2004 0 main.MIX > Empty file, if main.mix needs one then redalert.mix does too, I guess > Used to hold all the CD *.mixs 01/09/2010 8,230 edlo.MIX > Untouched, along with the other editor files > Dos Editor files 01/09/2010 54,335 edhi.MIX > Untouched, along with the other editor files > Windows Editor files 01/09/2010 247,425 interior.MIX > Untouched > Interior terrain tiles 01/09/2010 309,406 allies.MIX > Untouched > Generic Allies' unit voices 01/09/2010 266,077 russian.MIX > Untouched > Generic Soviet unit voices 07/13/2010 115,926,134 scores.MIX > Combined the songs a while back, there might have been some differing versions. > Frank Klepaki's soundtrack 07/13/2010 440,107 HIRES1.MIX > Before it also had a bunch of files unchanged from the original hires*.mixs > Optional small DOS infantry for the windows version. 05/03/2011 684,567 TLF-miss.mix > Updated to included the "Mission Critical" (scu44ea.ini) sub fix. > The Lost Files mission *.inis 05/04/2011 650,448 editor.mix > Untouched, along with the other editor files > Shared editor files 05/04/2011 2,003,464 speech.mix > Untouched > Eva speach audio files 05/04/2011 813,615 lores.mix > combined with lores1 for expansion units. > Dos version purchase icons and infantry 05/04/2011 184,246,411 TLF-movs.mix > compacted it in XCC mix editor, hence the date, otherwised untouched > Movies from the ported consol versions of RA 05/04/2011 687,835,430 movies1.MIX > All the movies are in here but the censored versions of bmap.vqa and spy.vqa > Allied Disk, Conterstrike, and Aftermath Cinematics 07/09/2011 4,091,249 MOVIES2.mix.alternate > Censored versions of bmap.vqa and spy.vqa along with proper pallet for bmap.vqa > Soviet Disk Cinematics 07/09/2011 9,491,164 nchires.mix > Pallet files for movies, with fixed pallet for bmap.vqa from the TLF pack. > All the movie pallet files 07/09/2011 5,891,252 hires.mix > combined with Hires1 for expansion units, and Compressed > Windows purchase icons and infantry 07/09/2011 1,048,850 temperat.MIX > Ant hill tile from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added > Temperate terrain tiles 07/10/2011 2,342,874 conquer.MIX > Files from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added > All the images shared between all terrain types, dos, and windows 07/10/2011 1,492,549 sounds.mix > Audio from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added > The rest of the audio (not allied or soviet generic voices) 07/10/2011 17,953,926 general.mix > Combined from 4 CDs, Files from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added > Mission *.inis, strings, and Windows screenies 07/10/2011 1,033,991 snow.MIX > SCRTRFIX.mix snow pallet fixes added > Snow terrain tiles 07/10/2011 3,848,646 local.mix > Files from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added > Random shit: rules.ini and similar, credits, title screen. \---------------------------------------------/ \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------/ \---------------------------------------------------------------------/ ====Installation==== Just unrar the *.mixes to you're red alert directory. Anything not overwritten is propably redundant (unless you installed some other mod). Either way, back up your old *.mixs if you're at all worried, or would be pissed if stuff stopped working. This shouldn't mess anything up, but... <insert disclaimer here>.

Ok, I found that the original nchires.mix pallet fails all around, the expand.mix bmap pallet only works for the censored version, and your bmap pallet from TLF works for the original uncensored version. just read it, and it's there. Guess i should read more readmes. This just leaves 3 more long term questions and then I'll have a release: Most fundamentally, is it be better practice to generally leave things where they are, meaning less modified mixes but the occasional redundant file, or radically re-arrange stuff, only keeping redundant files backwards compatibility. I guess an example of this would be whether or not to merge everything in the expand.mix's. You, Nyerguds, seem to be the preeminent developer/modder on TD/ra1, and if you ever get around redoing ra1 like TD 1.06 I would love for this to help, so it's kinda a question of what you would prefer. how can one add individual file descriptions within the mixes, like in the original mixes? It would be nice to not make things more confusing for others, and I'd feel a lot better about rearranging stuff if I could leave notes in the mixes. How does the the aftermath enabler work? I figure this is a good way to test backwards compatibility if I go around rearranging stuff EDIT: was poking and the forums and I think you said it just changes the registry is there any reason not to incorporate SCRTRFIX.mix into snow.mix? looking at the .rar of your 3.03 patch a lot more .mix's are changed than i thought, i'm guessing cause text on sprites. I guess I'll have to check that out

Sweet, I noticed that with raTLF.dat, the original campaign movies do not play, is this because whoever made raTLF.dat replaced some movie names? I guess that would ruin any chance of using just one executable. Otherwise everything seems to work fine. Here's a list (I think complete) of my .mix work: 01/25/1999 02:52 PM 211,145 wolapi.mix > Untouched 01/13/2004 04:52 PM 0 redalert.MIX > Empty file, RA+ had this so I figured they were important 01/13/2004 04:52 PM 0 main.MIX > Empty file, if main.mix needs when then redalert.mix too i guess 08/28/2009 11:38 AM 1,958 SCRTRFIX.mix > Untouched, I guess I could put these files in snow.mix 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 2,177,047 conquer.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 54,335 edhi.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 8,230 edlo.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 247,425 interior.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 1,030,861 snow.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 266,077 russian.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 309,406 allies.MIX > Untouched 01/09/2010 10:56 AM 1,038,859 temperat.MIX > Untouched 07/07/2010 11:42 AM 1,376,627 sounds.mix > Untouched? (maybe I overwrote it with fullra+'s, hence the date) 07/13/2010 12:07 AM 115,926,134 scores.MIX > Combined the songs a while back, there might have been some differing versions. 07/13/2010 10:48 PM 17,973,510 general.mix > Added the off map destroyer from the stuck-above subs fix in scu44ea.ini, and aftermath tutorial.ini 05/03/2011 11:23 PM 684,567 TLF-miss.mix > All 4 movies.mixes combined (no TLF versions) also includes sub fix 05/04/2011 07:57 AM 650,448 editor.mix > Untouched 05/04/2011 07:57 AM 3,829,837 local.mix > Untouched 05/04/2011 07:57 AM 11,990,198 nchires.mix > Untouched 05/04/2011 07:57 AM 2,003,464 speech.mix > Untouched 05/04/2011 04:55 PM 5,909,668 hires.mix > combined with original hires1 for expansion units. 07/13/2010 10:30 PM 440,107 HIRES1.MIX > Just The small DOS infantry 05/04/2011 04:55 PM 813,615 lores.mix > combined with lores1 for expansion units. 05/04/2011 05:03 PM 184,246,411 TLF-movs.mix > compacted it in XCC mix editor, hence the date, didn't improve file size though 05/04/2011 07:03 PM 687,835,430 movies1.MIX > All 4 movies.mixes combined, bmap and spy are both censored in at least one of the expansions. bmap-no chanting, spy-no choking noises 05/03/2011 07:02 AM 6,502,561 MOVIES2.mix.alternate > bmap and spy, Censored Versions 05/04/2011 11:09 PM 586,581 expand.mix > expand.mix + expand2.mix where theres no conflict 05/04/2011 11:10 PM 18,248 expand2.mix > aftermath tutorial.ini and conquer.eng, I guess they're backwards comparable but something told me keep 2 expand.mix's for the disable aftermath tool 28 File(s) 1,046,132,749 bytes Lastly, bmap.vqp. I've got three versions, one from the TLF .rar, one from expand1.mix, and one from nchires.mix. I figure the pallet problem had to do with the two versions of the movie, but all three pallets are different. I'm thinking once i figure out which one works for each version I'll put it in the corresponding movies.mix so they don't get seperated

@tore the internal video list is definitely the problem as the exe does load movies#.mix's as the intro movie plays. Is the other no-cd the one that comes with the red alert install manager or a third one. And about the mix filenames, what's the deal with the "sc" prefix and the way the game handles the filenames in general. Once I get red alert working I might do the same with TD so it's good to know. @ nyerguds great! is there any other differences with the TLF executable worth knowing about? And about those .dats, what are they doing. Looking at the TLF executable it would seem that their the bulk of the game and the TLF is just some booted thinggy, but I've seen mods where their used as mixes. And one last question, anyway to put file descriptions, like the movie titles, into custom mixes? I Can't try out first decade executable now but if everything works I'll upload or torrent the completed mix's

EDIT:Sonarpulse's Optimized *.mixs v1 (Latest) Magnet Link (torrent)·Megaupload (could a mod remove the http:// from the magnet URI?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So I have all four original CD's, downloaded and installed fullRA+ plus, and then extracted all the sub mixes out of the 4 main.mixes, and then meticulously combined them to save space. All worked so far. [in case anyone cares I found two cases were a movie was changed from the original game, bmap and spy1] Then I also tried to add in the The Lost Files' extra movies. They are stored in mixes which evidently only the TLF executable reads. Problem is that the no-cd hack, which is the whole point of combining the main.mixes, only works with the main executable (I think because TLF has it's own .dat file, which presumably calls the other mixes, and the main .dat is where the no-cd hack is.) So the solution should have been simple enough, put the TLF stuff in some mix the game already reads, like expand2.mix, or forgo making the TLF movies an option, and replace the original files with them. Except even after resorting to the latter and replacing the original scenario .ini's, and putting the movies in Movies1.mix, the movies still won't load!? Anyone know what's going on?