Lightning Hunter

I think I'll just stick with modifying ddraw.ini itself instead of using the tool, since vsync always causes lag for me. By the way, is there a way to stretch the main menu to fit my screen? I swear it used to fill the whole screen, but now it only takes up about half of it. I've always kept my resolution at the same (1024x768).

Hey Funky, are you able to place the "MaxFPS" setting from ddraw.ini to the config tool? I noticed a bug in which setting the maxfps higher than 120 will revert it back to the default when launching the tool. I personally use the maxfps setting to increase/decrease my scrolling speed, and to fix the crackling audio while using the HD Music pack.

Hey Darkstar, can you send me the updated pack? I am finally ready to play through some missions, and I can give you some bug reports. I just don't want to mention bugs you have already fixed, however.

I used "XCC Mix Editor" found in the XCC Utility pack for my Red Alert compilation: http://xhp.xwis.net/ By the way, real life got in the way of me ever playing any C&C missions. Hopefully soon.

I really wish someone who had knowledge in mission triggers/editing could help me with this compilation, because I'm not sure if I have the time. These bugs being brought up with triggers are difficult to fix when I have no knowledge. I might be able to fix some bugs with the compilation itself, but not really with individual mission issues with triggers (not related to the compilation).

Maybe I should have waited to test the Bask missions before including them in the compilation. They sound quite bugged! I'm sure Bask can fix those issues if he comes back around. The Flamedancers invisible building bug unfortunately looks unfixable at this point, unless I get some outside knowledge from someone else. I looked at everything I could think of and saw no issues.

I will point Bask185 to this thread, since he would have to be the one to fix this issue.

I take it nobody can help me with the invisible units?

That's not what I mean. I played War2 for years, so of course I know you can move 9 mages around at once (however, you are not correct that they can all cast a spell "at once"). If you are good enough, you can get them all casting a spell within seconds. It is also possible to cast bloodlust on 30+ men in a matter of seconds if you practice enough. However, I was actually referring to the fact that the AI can have multiple mage towers and mages walking around different parts of the map simultaneously casting spells at the same time (not in one group). That is not humanly possible. A good player can control a few mages fairly well using clever tactics, but not attacking and retreating using different groups of mages at the same time. Of course, the AI has other weaknesses that you can exploit, like all AI's. I was just saying they can cheat in certain ways. Edit #2: By the way, the official War2 skirmish maps are terrible for the AI, but I used to create maps specifically for playing against the AI (more open space, clear-cut paths, etc.) When the AI has specific maps, they can really do quite well. I used to to take on 3-5 AI opponents, and man was that hard...

You could argue that the AI in Warcraft 2 cheats as well. Although they don't blatantly cheat, they can simultaneously control multiple mages at the same time, which is not humanly possible. Of course, the AI has weaknesses like any AI. I would not call the AI in War2 rubbish though; you just have to give them good conditions, or they have a bug where they give up and stop building. If you give them plenty of space to build and plenty of resources, they can do rather well. Try taking on 2-3 AI opponents sometime in War2 in the right map and see what happens.

I was finally able to reproduce the invisible building bug on mission 10 of Flame Dancers set 2. Honestly, I have no idea what is causing this bug, and I don't know how I could possibly fix it. The theater is the default temperate, so that doesn't have anything to do with it. Because the buildings appear some of the time, that rules out issues with the conversion itself. I would need some help from someone else to determine why this is happening. Maybe Funky or Nyerguds can shed some light on this issue? Edit: I don't know if this issue has to do with the fact that these buildings replace civilian buildings or not... Where are the civilian buildings even contained? I could not find them in main.mix. Edit #2: I also noticed these structures are invisible in raed.exe, but I can still click on them (and it shows a technology center when I do)... Edit #3: What is [V20] in rules.ini? Is this a civilian structure or something else? It is not labeled and I don't know where to find a list that tells me.

dumb question, but does this update all the the renderers (OpenGL, GDI, DDrawCompat), or is only one of these optimized with this release? I could not find any documentation with your archive, so I'm not exactly sure which one to choose in order to see these changes.

I cannot reproduce the invisible building bug using RA95_SP.exe. You will have to tell me which map specifically this happens in (and preferably what you are doing when it happens), since I don't have time to play through all the missions right now. Icho, can you please do me a favor and name specific maps? there are 400+ levels in this compilation, and I cannot go on a wild goose hunt looking for the problems. Just make a mental note of which mission you are playing, otherwise I am looking for a needle in a haystack. As for the screen starting in the wrong location, this has nothing to do with my compilation (as far as I know). I have also seen it while testing certain maps, and it usually has to do with the author who simply didn't set up a proper screen start location. With over 400 missions, I cannot go through and fix all the bad missions (although I will eliminate any missions that are really bad from the compilation altogether). You need to tell me which missions don't end, otherwise I cannot investigate. Also, I want to point out that I have never once created a mission, and I am still learning how triggers even work. As such, I will not be able to fix all issues you bring up, if I decide to fix any at all. All my work was spent on making sure all the missions play as they originally did (good or bad). If a mission is really bad, I will simply remove it from the compilation.

Hehe, I remember running in to the same issue last year when I played through RA. It is not a bug with Red Alert, but rather just a misleading mission briefing. You actually have to kill all enemy units if I remember correctly. Don't forget to look for camo-boxes, since they also have to be destroyed and are difficult to spot.

I thought of that, but it means I would have to edit every single map in raed just to see it in-game. When I am dealing with hundreds of maps, that would take a very long time. It would be really handy if there was a way to hack the game so all the maps were explored.

I am getting the urge to play through some C&C missions, so I might give these a shot in the next few months here! I will definitely give you some feedback when I get around to these missions.

Hey Chimas, how is everything going? It's been a while since I've seen an update from you. I hope the new forum hasn't scared you away from working on this project at all. I know a lot of the formatting you did was lost when the forums changed. I personally think you can ditch all the documentation on this forum, and just stick with the documentation that comes with the zip archive instead. If this forum ever changes again or disappears, people will still have your archive to refer to, and you won't have to consistently redo the format. In reality, what I am most interested in seeing is all the new maps added to the compilation before they are completely lost. If this forum shuts down or something else happens, nobody will have their hands on all these maps released in the last 5 years or so. You could also argue that these are the best maps released to date! It would be a shame if links were lost and nobody had them...

Are there any cheats offline in Red Alert at all? More importantly, is there a way to make the whole map "explored"? I am currently going through and verifying there are no problems with the new tilesets in my "Mega Compilation", but it is no easy task if I have to manually play each map to do so. I need a way to cheat in order to see these maps in-game quicker.

I am back after a much needed break from Red Alert, and have begun investigating the issues brought up by IchoTolot (sorry for the long delay). The first thing I noticed right off the bat is that the invisible building bug does not occur while using RA95_SP.exe that comes with the compilation, but I did encounter it while using RA95.exe. IchoTolot, I am going to take a guess that you ignored my instructions and used RA95.exe instead of RA95_SP.exe? If so, that might explain the problem. As for the bugs you brought up with the invisible flame tank and destroyer diving, I am guessing this is a bug with the original missions themselves and not my conversions. I ported all the code directly over, so there should not be any differences there. Edit: I think the black tiles you are referring to is in mission 7 (I found them next to a river bridge). For some reason, these black tiles do not appear in Raed.exe, but they do appear in-game. The bug was fixed by simply opening the mission, re-applying the tiles, and saving the mission. I wonder if any other missions have this problem? Only time will tell, since I am not able to go through and play every single desert mission in-game.

Which buildings were invisible? I'm not sure what is causing it. I need more specifics before fixing this bug! As for the Desert Theater, is this a bug with the theater itself, or just the one mission? Which mission is having the problem?

It's in the Mega Compilation, Messiah! As for the individual download link, Nyergud's gave it to me originally and even helped me extract the content - since it was a DOS executable (I think). I need to go ahead and just release this compilation officially. I think it has been in beta testing long enough, and I've had everything ready to go for some time now.

Fantastic job, Chimas! You sure do put a lot of work in to all the documentation. I for one am very thankful.

These questions are exactly why I decided to make all the Red Alert missions in my Mega Compilation appear in the menu individually. With the exception of missions that carry units over (there are fewer than 10 of them), each individual mission from a campaign appears in the selection menu in case there are ever problems with one mission and people can't continue. I figure the chances are too high that someone will get halfway through a campaign, and can't beat a particular mission due to some bug... I do admire all the work Chimas is putting in to making sure the campaigns in the huge collection work. It's a lot of effort to do so! I haven't had time to play even a fraction of the missions contained in the Mega Compilation.

Wow, that is a ridiculous web page. I already tried disabling my adblocker and NoScript a month ago, but it still didn't work. Turns out, I had to use Internet Explorer and set the security setting to the lowest. In other words, even IE on the default settings would not allow that download link to work...

Allen, that download link no longer works so you know.