Lightning Hunter

I was finally able to test and confirm that units do in fact carry over properly when using "NextMissionInCampaign". I had to play a whole mission to determine this in the end. I tested using the Cocaine campaign, mission 3 (which carries stuff over to mission 4). In the test, my units were carried over, as well as my funds. Funky, I think you can keep the previous version of your MissionConverter (not the test version), since I think maps that carry over should be manually set up (maybe you can just make a note of this on the mission converter page). I will combine all such maps in one slot from now on, using "ea" and "eb" with the same mission number.

No problem, you have already helped me a lot! I will try to make use of the modded .exe with DO, and see if there are any negative side effects. If so, then maybe then we can come up with another solution later. Thanks for the tilesets, and all the help. Edit: I just realized this modded .exe file fixes the shuffle music bug when loading a saved game. Maybe this is a good version or ra95.exe to use for SP after all. :O

Yeah, I was just now thinking about that. The only custom file that will be included with this compilation is the .exe file (renamed), so there are no conflicts. I don't want people to get any message prompt to overwrite files when installing the compilation. I know that would put me off... I won't be able to include Discovert Operations as a result, because it just has too much custom content that may conflict with other stuff. I am really hoping the modified .exe file that comes with DO does not have any other bugs. I noticed this in the readme file of "known bugs": "When abort a mission and start another mission, exit the game or the ini settings from the previous map were still loaded" I wonder if the .exe that comes with the RA1installer has the same issue or not. I don't want to introduce any new bugs with a modded .exe... I sure wish someone could include the new tilesets with the RA1Installer version of the exe file, even if it is a different .exe file only used for SP. That way, I don't have to worry about other modifications messing up the game. Funky, you talked about not wanting to add tilesets to the RA1Installer because of possible multiplayer bugs being introduced - but what if a new .exe was made just for SP? That way, it doesn't matter if it breaks multiplayer stuff. At least then I would be able to use campaigns with custom tilesets. Edit: Erm, I can't connect to cncnet. It gives me some message about my nickname already being in use, then it kicks me from chanserv. I tried changing my nick, but still the same error. Funky, can you zip up the tilesets for me used by cncnet? I need Desert, Winter, Barren, Jungle, and Cave (I think that is all of them).

I haven't heard of that campaign before. I checked my own archives, and unfortunately I do not have it either. If someone does find it, I will be sure to include it with the compilation.

I compared the tilesets side by side, and the only modifications to official tiles I could find was to the "ice01-ice05.tem" in Temperate, and "electro.tem" tile in both Temperate and Snow. I haven't found any missions that use the ice tiles with Temperate, and the new Electro tile doesn't affect anything in particular. My BIGGEST concern, however, is "redalert.mix" that I just noticed in the zip archive of DO. This replaces an OFFICIAL 24mb file with a 6mb file. That worries me a lot. Is the new Redalert.mix file really necessary? I see a bunch of beta ships and stuff in there, and .pal files named stuff like "snow_vtx.pal", "intr_vtx.pal, and temp_vtx.pal. What are these files, and are they even used by DO? Edit: Also, Main.mix is included in the archive, which overwrites a 433MB file with an 11.8mb file. I am certainly not going to be including these files with the Mega Compilation, because they overwrite official game files that can mess up someone's install. I will try testing DO without these files to see if it works. If it does not work, I will have to leave DO out of the compilation.

No, I don't mean the expand mixes that come with DO. I mean the expand mixes that came with the RA1Installer. Those particular expand mixes contain mission files. If I use your mixes, it will overwrite them - so I will have to extract/separate the contents to avoid conflicts. Haha, yeah of course not. I just meant if you want to test your own missions and just browse a bit through the menu. Any testing at all would help. You don't have to play through any missions at all, but just make sure they load, etc. Are there any changes to the official tiles? Obviously, it is critical that all 300+ missions appear as intended without bugs/changes in the official tile sets. If you fix the interior tileset, upload it so I can include it in the mega compilation once it is finished.

I already plan to use the .exe file you gave me, so that should not be a problem. I noticed there is a different version of "Expand3.mix" and "Expand4.mix" in your zip file than the ones I have. The ones in my folder have mission files that yours do not have. What I will have to do is extract all the contents of your expand.mix files and repackage them using the mission converter, so there are no conflicts. I will fully test everything to make sure it works. Before I make a release, I can even send the compilation over to you if you want to test it. I could use a beta tester anyway! Edit: By the way, why is there a snow.mix file and temperat.mix file with your campaign? Have the official tilesets been modified? Also, what is changed with interior.mix? I am not sure I want to include modified versions of the official tile sets, unless I can be sure they won't affect any other missions.

You know, I was actually doing some thinking about this - and I think the best method is to only combine missions that carry stuff over. I say this, because there is a good chance some of these missions will crash or have issues, and the player should be able to skip the map and go on to the next if that happens. A good example of this is the "Wounded Eagle" campaign in the Huge Collection by Chimas for TD. One of the missions is broken in this campaign, and as a result, I never got to see the other levels. If I had the option to skip that mission, I would have. A campaign would look like this for example: Defection: Allies Mission 1 Defection: Allies Mission 2 Defection: Allies Mission 3 and 4 (or Mission 3a and 3b, depending on what the author named it) Defection: Allies Mission 5 Also, I can't seem to get units to actually carry over yet. I tried messing with some maps in a random campaign, but so far nothing actually carries over. Maybe I have something set up wrong in the .ini, or maybe the map itself is not designed to carry stuff over. Like I said, I never created missions (only skirmish maps), so I don't know how to set up this stuff to test.

That appears to have worked, thanks! I also had to set SkipMapSelect=yes and SkipScore=yes to get it to change levels properly. The transition is kind of odd (the game just suddenly jumps in to the briefing of the next mission), but it seems to work. I haven't fully played through a mission that carries over units yet, but I will test that when I get the time. Am I able to name missions stuff like cmu101eb so they don't appear in the list, but are able to be played by having the ini file switch to them? In other words: NextMissionInCampaign=cmu101eb.ini That way, players don't accidentally try to run the second part of the mission by itself and crash the game. Edit: It seems to work fine when I have a mission named cmu101ea that goes to cmu101eb next. This is handy, because then part 2 won't appear in the mission list. What I will do is name the mission something like, "part 1 & 2", or "mission 1 & 2" depending on how the author had them set up. I haven't fully tested if units are actually carried over yet though. Will do more testing. Edit #2: Does anyone familiar with mission making know how to create a quick test mission where units are carried over so I can test? I don't have time to play an hour long mission right now to see what the results are, and I know nothing about mission making. In the time it would take me to learn, I could be adding dozens of maps to the compilation instead.

Yeah, I get it. There aren't many of us working on such an old game. That is why my policy is, "if you want something done, you have to do it yourself". Since nobody is currently around that can update the RA1installer, I will rename the .exe file for the time being. Maybe once I release the Mega Compilation (which should be within the month), someone will be inspired to step up to the plate and make this thing more user-friendly. There are also a few bugs I can't fix at the moment, like missions that carry over. Currently, any mission with these commands won't work as far as I know: ToCarryOver=yes TimerInherit=yes ToInherit=yes Obviously, this is because the missions can only be played one at a time in the custom mission menu, and stuff like a timer can't carry over - which results in a "mission failed" message the second you try to start part 2 of a mission. This only applies to certain campaigns, like Defection. An example is mission 8 and mission 8b, which have a timer that is supposed to carry over once you reach the interior portion of the tech center in part 2. My only solution right now is to label these missions as *Broken* in the custom menu, so people know they won't work. I tried linking these missions together by doing stuff like renaming them ea and eb, but everything I tried resulted in a crash or "mission failed" message.

Well, I actually wasn't thinking that you would use the .exe file in that link, but rather hoped that someone could update the .exe in Ra1Installer to add the new tilesets (any other modification is not necessary). Can it really mess it up that bad to add support for the new tile sets? But anyway, what will happen if I change the name of Ra95.exe? I can name it something like "Ra95_SP.exe". Maybe the launcher can even be modified to show a button for playing SinglePlayer?

Well, my hands are currently tied, because many of the modern campaigns released on this forum use the new tile sets - and I want to include them. I was given a new ra95.exe by Messiah in this thread, and I think I'm going to use that one for now (it works with all tile sets, including barren). I will have the .exe file in a separate package when I release the mega compilation, so it will be optional for people to use. Also, if the RA1Installer is ever updated (and I really hope it does get updated) - then I can remove the optional .exe file. I will make a simple note that a few missions will crash for people using the Ra1Installer.exe. Edit: What would happen if I renamed ra95.exe? I could simply rename the optional version, so people can run a different .exe when playing Single Player.

Thanks Messiah! You are the only person who has responded to my posts in the last 3-4 days. The .exe file included with your campaign does in fact fix the tile set crashing issue! Are there any other changes with the exe file that I should be aware of? I don't want any of the 300+ missions I have already compiled in my Mega Compilation to be negatively affected. I don't know why there are so many versions of ra95.exe floating around out there... What are the changes you made to the tile sets? I see that all of them are different file sizes. Before I include your versions, I would like to know if any of the other maps using these tile sets will be affected. They need to remain as the authors intended them to be. By the way, can I include your Discovert operations in my upcoming Mega Compilation? The Mega Compilation is simply all known missions and campaigns conveniently packaged so they appear in the custom mission menu and work together without conflicts (so people don't have to swap one campaign in & out at a time). All credit is given to the original authors of course (I keep all readme files intact and correctly labeled to correspond with each mission). Your campaign should work flawlessly as long as there aren't any custom sounds (custom sounds won't work with the other missions in the compilation, since it will change the sounds of ALL the missions). If your mod only has shp files and rules, then it will work fine.

I just asked about this same issue yesterday, because I was hoping to use the Jungle and Barren tile sets with the upcoming Mega Compilation. My idea was to switch things up a bit by having unique tilesets with a few of the missions/campaigns included with the compilation. However, my game also crashes with both tilesets (Jungle and Barren). In this thread, Darkstar said the jungle tileset worked with PortableRA (I don't know what the difference is), but the download link of PortableRA doesn't work right now - so I can't investigate.

I noticed there are a lot of new tilesets that have been released the last few years, and I was wondering if anyone has them all compiled in a download somewhere? I was thinking of changing the theater of some of the missions in my upcoming "Mega Compilation" to use a few of the new sets like Jungle and Barren. However, I can't find download links for any of these tile sets. I have jungle.mix already in my Red Alert folder (Don't know where I got it), but it crashes the game when I set a mission theater to "Jungle". Maybe I have an outdated version? Any help would be appreciated. Edit: I also just realized the barren tileset is also in my Red Alert folder, but it also crashes the game. Does anyone know why they won't work? I attached the crash dump, although I'm not sure it will help.

Does anyone know why Mission 4 of the "Cocaine" campaign says "Mission Failed" at the very beginning? I don't know anything about mission making or triggers, but perhaps someone else here can help? I have attached the campaign in question to this post. I would like to include this campaign since the other missions work... Edit: I think the mission failed problem happens with missions that are supposed to carry over stuff from the previous mission. I also noticed that mission #15 in the "Crimson" campaign crashes, because the map is empty. I guess units are supposed to carry over from mission #14. Is there a way to make stuff carry over using the new menu system, or are we out of luck? Optimally, it would be nice to be able to combine two missions in one entry, and have the second mission continue after the first mission. This would only be necessary in missions that carry-over from the previous mission, of course. Edit #2: Also, does anyone know why maps using the new Jungle Tileset crash the game? For example, RA: Reloaded maps 3 and 4 crash the game... Is this something about my install only?

Yup, don't worry - I have been opening every single map in RAED.exe to compare them. There will be no duplicates in the compilation. I have also been rewriting a lot of the mission briefings, because many of these authors don't know very good English (and also because I am kind of a grammar Nazi when it comes to in-game text). It's also a pet peeve of mine when briefings have emotion in them, like "We have to kill this guy right away because he is going to do a bunch of bad stuff and this will hurt us!". lol. Yeah, and I think I just spotted an Aftermath mission in there too. I will see if there are any unique missions in this campaign at all. If not, I am removing it. Nothing angers me more than someone who rips off a bunch of content and makes no mention of it in the readme (in fact, the author acts like he created these missions himself). Edit: Ok, I am removing "A New Era" from this compilation, because I haven't found a single mission that was created from scratch yet. I have spotted 3 missions taken from Aftermath/Counterstrike Skirmish maps. It looks like the author ripped maps from all over the place and modified them. I mean really, how hard is it to create maps from scratch? Red Alert is probably the easiest game to create maps for... Oh well, at least this mission pack enabled you to test your mission converter, Funky. Edit #2: Lots of edits, I know - but I also discovered that this guy who recently released Beginning of a New Technology also ripped official skirmish maps. I was going to include his campaign, but not anymore. Why don't people simply MENTION the fact that these packs are converted skirmish maps? Otherwise, I lose ALL respect for them for attempting to take the credit.

I found all the files and the missions appear to work now, but I noticed that Soviet Mission #1 is just the first Allied map of Red Alert slightly changed... I sure hope all the maps aren't rip-offs like that. There is nothing in the briefing that makes you believe you are revisiting an old area or anything, so maybe this author was lazy. If so, I will not include this compilation. I will do some further investigation... Edit: Can you guys browse through a few of these maps in "A New Era" in RAED.exe and tell me if you recognize them? Based on the fact that the first Soviet map is just an official map slightly changed, I have a feeling other maps are ripped off too. However, I am not THAT familiar with Red Alert maps, so I can't tell for sure.

Will do; it shouldn't be that hard. I wonder if any of these missing files are the unknown files that weren't converted though?

I tried converting ANewEra despite the unknown files, but I got the EXACT same error message in your post above (the same missing files and everything). Did you actually get this error while attempting to compile ANewEra yourself? I figured your error was an example, but I just got the same message. If these files really are missing, then I guess I have to go searching for them in the main mix files.

Would anybody complain if I used the icons from "spawn1.mix" instead of these plain icons that come with Flame Dancers set 2? The icons really are boring and don't fit at all. There is a much better icon for the flame tank and SSM in spawn1.mix. Edit: I went ahead and used them. They look soooo much better next to the other official icons. It makes you want to build the new units more often. Hehe. Edit #2: Hey Funky, I have a TRUE test for your mission converter... I am now converting some large campaigns, and have gone back to try to convert the incredibly awesome "New Era v2" campaign (which was too complex before). On paper, this campaign should work because all of the new files are shp (no new sounds, etc.) However, there are quite a few errors using the mission converter to read the unknown files. Many files are not recognized. If this mission pack won't work then I will skip it, but it really is an awesome pack and I think it could work with some tweaks to your program. Get it here: http://ra.afraid.org/download.php/campaigns/ANewEraV20.zip

Hmm, the icons still don't appear for some reason (tested on mission 13). I attached the updated file so you can make sure everything is correct. Oh, and I deleted the .tem file.

What is p04.tem with Flame Dancers? I assume that "gem01.tem" and the other .tem files are the diamond replacement graphics, but I don't know what p04.tem is. Edit: Have you guys actually listened to the new audio files of Flame Dancers? They are hilariously bad voice acting samples that replace some of the announcer stuff. I think they can be safely removed with no consequences. lol. Edit #2: For some reason, the new build icons for the Flame Tank and SSM do not work. I have attached my converted Flame Dancers set 2 to this post as a test. Mission 13 allows you to build these units right away, so just load it up to see what I mean.

I guess we have to revert it back to diamonds in this case, since it would effect all missions otherwise. The converter will ignore these files and doesn't copy it over to the convertedmissions folder, so you don't have to worry about them. Yes, I figured the converter would ignore them. I was just stating the obvious that the new diamond graphic (tiberium) would not be used. Yup, I always used the converted missions folder.

I guess we have to revert it back to diamonds in this case, since it would effect all missions otherwise.