Red Alert: World at War (A WWII mod)

[Virtue]

This mod aims to recreate World War 2 as if Westwood brought out a real WWII game, rather than their alternate history version, with the Allied and Axis powers, Its a long way off yet however Ive got most of the units and some of the buildings done, theres still a few issues however that I may not be able to solve such as the countrys, I'd like to replace Russia and Ukraine with Germany and Italy (and of course, change Germany to Russia as part of the allies, if you follow me). Currently I dont know how to change the text in the skirmish menus.

 

the gameplay itself is balanced so far, but with a LOT more emphisis on air combat (Battle of Britain etc), both sides now get planes!

 

Anyway, heres a discription of all the changes so far, i'll try upload screenshots and such but for now heres whats changed, note: any unit, infantry or building NOT mentioned means its unchanged from the original:

 

Both Sides:

 

Mine Layer: Will be changed into something else, not sure as of yet though.

 

Radar Tower: Replaces Radar Dome with the TD Comm Center, I felt it looks more authentic than RA's Radar Dome.

 

Helicopters: Since there where no helicopters in WWII (thats true! except a very late German prototype) I have no idea what to do with these, Im thinking German prototype craft such as their flying saucer experiments and proto helicopter experiments, but sprites are going to be an issue!

 

Allies:

 

Units:

 

M3 Half Track: APC, uses Radar Jammer sprite minus the radar, but with new rear hatch animations. New cameo.

 

Chaffee Tank: Light tank, unchanged from the original except new cameo and name.

 

Sherman Tank: Medium Tank, New turret, cameo and cannon sounds.

 

Katyusha Rocket Launcher: Brand new unit! The Russian Katyusha is a devastating but fragile early MLRS system, and the first of its kind, mounted on a truck it can deliever salvos of rockets at a long range, to support other Allied Artillery.

 

Aircraft:

 

Spitfire: Air superiority fighter, the legendary Spitfire comes to the RA universe, its faster and more equiped than the Messerschmitt fighter of the Germans, but comes at a costlier price, armed with duel Browning Machine Guns.

 

Ships:

 

Destroyer: The same as original but with a turret and cannons rather than a missile launcher.

 

Buildings:

 

Guard Tower: The Allies anti-Infantry base defence. Uses TD's Guard Tower and cameo.

 

Airstrip: Needed to build Spitfires.

 

Advanced Radar Tower: Using high altitude spyplanes the Allies can see the whole map from the skys. (replaces Advance Tech Centre and uses the Advanced Comm Center from TD, going to change the GPS to instantanious if I can).

 

Notes for Allies: No idea what to do about the chronosphere, gap gen, mobile gap gen or chronotank, how would they fit into a realistic WWII scenario? Suggestions? The only thing I can think of for the Chronosphere is the German "Bell" Wunderwaffen experiment, which apparantly could teleport, again, sprites are an issue.

 

Axis:

 

Infantry:

 

SS: replaces Tesla Trooper, this isnt done yet, but id like to make them an equivilant trooper but with machine guns instead of the tesla packs.

 

Sniper: Elite infantry that can blend in with their environment, they wont be noticed by the enemy until they fire and can deliever devastating rounds to infantry types. Silent and deadly. Uses Stavros sprites, Tanya isnt avaliable to the Axis.

 

Units:

 

Sd.Kfz. 251 Halftrack: APC utilising an armoured turret with a 75mm cannon, good for transporting troops and fending off against armour. Replaces the Phase Transport and uses the Tesla Tank body with a new turret, and rear hatch animations.

 

Panzer Tank: Medium tank, fires higher caliber rounds than the Sherman, but at a slower rate of fire, replaces Heavy Tank.

 

Tiger tank: Heavy Tank, this slow moving behemoth fires 120mm rounds but at a slow rate, and has a mounted machine gun to take care of Infantry. Replaces mammoth Tank.

 

Flame Tank: the Lanciafiamme modello 35 is an Italian design, mounting a flamethrower into its lightweight chassis, this tank is good for quick assaults on troops and structures.

 

Aircraft:

 

Messerschmitt: Fighter Plane, cheaper and more armoured than the Allies Spitfire, it can more than hold its own.

 

Structures:

 

Pillbox and Camo Pillbox: The Axis get the Pillboxes, as demonstrated on the Normandy landings to chilling effect.

 

Axis notes: The Tesla Coil and Samsites are my main concern, the Axis need an anti-armour defense structure since the Allies get the Turret however Im stumped as to what to do with it, same with the Samsite, I dont just want to give both sides AA guns. Iron Curtain, absolutely no idea what to to with this one! I want to incorporate the Forward Command post as a regular structure as well. Maybe replace the Soviet Tech Center?

 

Footnotes: I'd like to obviously change all the soviet iconography to maybe the Swastika (or at least something instantly identifyable as "Axis Powers"), although it may be a little offensive,  I may need a little help with the radar screen though. plus I'm going to change the Soviet sounds to the German language pack from TD.

 

I hope this turns out well, screenshots to follow.

[AchromicWhite]

Sounds cool.

 

So Allies will get a guard tower (replace one of the pill boxes?) and then the Germans get the regular pillbox?

Then allies get turret and you're not sure on Tesla... Err, maybe the Germans could get some sort of larger, long range missile turret (V2 launcher?)

But yeah, any sort of long range laser thing doesn't really work for this, funnily enough.

 

I'd say either leave the helis out or have it as a special thing for the Germans (unbuildible) flying flying saucer in a mission if you make any.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about having 2 AA guns... at least it accurate for the time.

[Revolutionary]

Helicopters: Since there where no helicopters in WWII (thats true! except a very late German prototype) I have no idea what to do with these, Im thinking German prototype craft such as their flying saucer experiments and proto helicopter experiments, but sprites are going to be an issue!

 

Barrage Balloons / Airships?

[Virtue]

Sounds cool.

 

So Allies will get a guard tower (replace one of the pill boxes?) and then the Germans get the regular pillbox?

Then allies get turret and you're not sure on Tesla... Err, maybe the Germans could get some sort of larger, long range missile turret (V2 launcher?)

But yeah, any sort of long range laser thing doesn't really work for this, funnily enough.

 

I'd say either leave the helis out or have it as a special thing for the Germans (unbuildible) flying flying saucer in a mission if you make any.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about having 2 AA guns... at least it accurate for the time.

 

Actaually, its a bit more complicated, Germans get both pillboxes unchanged, and the guard tower is the flame tower with changed spries and given the allied tag I'm thinking giving the Germans a double-barreled turret, the V2 idea is a good one, however I'm still using the normal V2s for the Axis (balancing gameplay issues, since the Allies now have 2 forms of artillery).

 

At the moment im just concentrating on getting skirmish balanced, and then eventually work out how to make missions there are soo many missions that would work in this mod (Normandy, Battle of Britain, final push into Berlin, liberation of Concentration Camps, Germans ill fated push into Soviet Territory, occupied france etc etc)

 

Helicopters: Since there where no helicopters in WWII (thats true! except a very late German prototype) I have no idea what to do with these, Im thinking German prototype craft such as their flying saucer experiments and proto helicopter experiments, but sprites are going to be an issue!

 

Barrage Balloons / Airships?

 

Yes! I could use Airships! Nice one, now all I need to figure out is how to hack RA2 Kirovs into this game

[Virtue]

Also, i'd like to say, Ive got more than enough unit spaces to make many more units, ive tried to be very efficiant with this, ive not even had to use  the Ants yet, if I do i'd like to have German bikes, but again, sprites are an issue! I could cannibalise the Nod Attack Cycle i guess...

 

Allies are going to get French Resistance unis as well (utilising the civilians)

[Virtue]

Airship Reporting sir!

 

 

 

 

[AchromicWhite]

Awesome stuff, those look great!

If you want to get your hands on a premade ant--> not cycle, hit up Allen, who made the Red Dawn mod. He should be able to hook you up if you ask nicely

  -Liam

[Virtue]

Ive added a lot more since that screenshot, Axis now have armoured cars instead of bikes, static V2 missile defences, im also going to totally redo the tech tree and include the forward command post as Axis HQ, I still need to get convicing looking gestappo SS sprites, I was thinking a recoloured conscript from RA2 but the infantry are over twice the res of the original ones, and its a LOT of spritework, like, 500 odd sprites!

 

Still need to figure out what to do with the Iron Curtain, change the chronosphere to the Bell wunderwaffen, and sort out the chronotank and MAD tank into something

[Chimas]

Virtue,

 

You could consider doing something "new" related to WW2: you could take out the Nazi structures and names as if it was just another war of large scale.

This way things like the Waffen SS would be cut out in favour of the correspondent organizational structure you would find in the Heer, Kriegsmarine or Luftwaffe.

Here is an example.

 

Getting rid of the cliches and stereotypes would make it more interesting, in my opinion.

At least it would be a change in the current boredom related to WW2 provided by the mass media.

[AchromicWhite]

You could have mobile Bell as the Chrono Tank? Else, I don't really see a way to have it in.

I guess you'd just have to have the iron curtain as something for the Allies if you wanted to even the scale. Or you could give the allies the Nuclear bomb, dropped from a plane (replace the air strike) as their super weapon. But then there's still nothing for the iron curtain.

Some with the MAD tank, doesn't really have a place in this... You should also make the chrono charge up quicker, else it's bloody useless, as we all know.

[Virtue]

Virtue,

 

You could consider doing something "new" related to WW2: you could take out the Nazi structures and names as if it was just another war of large scale.

This way things like the Waffen SS would be cut out in favour of the correspondent organizational structure you would find in the Heer, Kriegsmarine or Luftwaffe.

Here is an example.

 

Getting rid of the cliches and stereotypes would make it more interesting, in my opinion.

At least it would be a change in the current boredom related to WW2 provided by the mass media.

 

well ive already got airships and hovercraft, something which certainly wasnt used in the war, or as very limited uses at best. Plus of course, this is still the red alert engine, there is still a sense of fantasy about it, id call my mod semi-realistic in as much as the original red alert is, perhaps a bit more as im trying to do period accurate weapons etc.

 

Besides, no ones ever attempted this in Red alert surprisingly! im quite shocked tbh that there isnt other mods trying to get  proper WWII flavour going with RA.

 

whiteshoes_N_gloves: Yeah I was going to give the allies the nuke, however it will just be the conventional nuke as Airstrike isnt available in Skirmish mode (which is primarily what Im doing this for, missions will come when I learn how to code them!), good thinking on the mobile bell, not a clue about what sprites to use though

 

also does anyone know how to change the country names?

[AchromicWhite]

No, I don't know how to change the country names,

but you can connect the airstrike to a building in skirmish, I've seen it... might have been a spy plane adaptation...

[Nyerguds]

Country names? Aren't they just in the strings file?

[Virtue]

Country names? Aren't they just in the strings file?

where would I find that?

[Nyerguds]

um, conquer.eng inside expand2.mix. Use a string editor like Ingame Strings Editor to edit it.

 

It's kinda, uh, the normal way of editing any text and names in the game.

[pichorra]

H² Airships? Shoot'em down with one bullet!

 

Is there a way to make the dogs like bomberman? Soviets used those in WWII

 

Isn't Radar exclusive from British?

[AchromicWhite]

Radar British only, that would be a twist. Of course, the main purpose of radar was to spot aircraft... and considering aircraft don't show on the map, lol.

[Virtue]

H² Airships? Shoot'em down with one bullet!

 

Is there a way to make the dogs like bomberman? Soviets used those in WWII

 

Isn't Radar exclusive from British?

 

The airships are a near-enough replica of the Kirovs, except the need to reload. And Allies get Advanced Radar (basically the GPS). Axis still get the normal radar for gameplay balance.

 

And making dogs walking bombs is easy enough, but its a little sadistic and dogs work fine as they are

 

and Nyerguds, I was only asking, Im new to making Mixes.

[Nyerguds]

Well, mix files contain all kinds of neat stuff. And when you start replacing a lot of stuff, it's usually handier to use the strings file rather than Name= tags in rules.ini, yes.

[Myg]

Do you plan to make the new shp files yourself or are you just going to cannibalize everything from the other games?

 

For a project like this your probably better off making/getting 3d models of historical tanks/planes/etc and converting their renders into images/shp files to properly serve the spirit of what you hope to do.

 

 

 

 

[Virtue]

Do you plan to make the new shp files yourself or are you just going to cannibalize everything from the other games?

 

For a project like this your probably better off making/getting 3d models of historical tanks/planes/etc and converting their renders into images/shp files to properly serve the spirit of what you hope to do.

 

 

 

 

at the moment its a mixture of tiberian dawn and red alert sprites, with a few from RA2 and TS, I used a voxel editor to turn them into sprites like the Airship

 

 

[Allen262]

First I wish you luck! I thought about doing a WWII mod but it didn't get past some planning with paper.

 

If you plan to use the Skirmish mode AI you will find out quick that you can't really mess with the buildings build order or the Ai will quit working.

 

After look over what you have laid out this is what I would do. This way you could keep the AI working as well.

 

I would replace the Flame Tower .shps with the TD’s Guard Tower. Feel free to take it from Red Dawn or any thing else of use as well.

 

Now you can give the [FTUR] to the Allies and [PBOX] and [HBOX] to the soviets. The AI will work fine.

 

Next you can just put -1 on the Tesla Coil and remove the Owner= tag. The AI will build Gun Turrets just fine for both sides if this is done and the Gun Turret is coded for both sides. With the SAM Sites maybe you can do some converting of the RA2 soviet flak gun since it looks just like the German 88mm.

 

The Gap Generator can be built by both sides fine by the AI if it is coded for both sides. I turned the Gap Generator into a Radar Jammer for both sides in Red Dawn.

 

The Airfield can be give to both sides just fine. The Yak and MiG as well.

Now for Aircrafts I would use a split Icon like by Nyerguds did for C&C Meets Star Wars. (Attached below) You could do a split icon that is half Spitfire and BF109 this would use the [YAK] and split B-25 and Ju-88 icon that would use the [MIG]. Also maybe by messing with the a weapon you could make the helicopters act like the stock Yak.

I would also use a split icon for the [APC]. You can make the Convoy Truck buildabe fine with the skirmish mode AI but it will be a pain the rear for any one converting the singer player mission to work with your mod.

 

Anyway below tips.

 

Never use Name= in the rules.ini. It causes the game to crash. The more Name= used the quicker it crashes. Get an Ingame String editor.

 

With vehicles the AI dose well. You can switch or add an owner on any vehicles and the AI is fine but I don't recommend doing so for any unit that is given at the start of skirmish mode. If your mod is using 1.08 or later Red Alert you can program in the Ant units in the rules. Download Red Dawn if you’re not sure about them. The Ants are [ANT1] [ANT2] [ANT3] in the rules and use .shp with walking frames. If you need more info on Ants I will help you out.

 

Infantry dose well as well. You can switch or add an owner on any Infantry and the AI is fine. The AI won’t build the Attack Dog, Engineer Spy, Medic, Field Marshal or any of the Civilians. Also making the Field Marshal or Civilians buildable is not a good idea. If they are loaded on to Transport Helicopter the game will try to fly them off the map. 

The AI will never build things like the Camouflaged Pill Box, Forward Command Post, Nuke Missile Silo, Ore Silo, Hospital Bio-Research Laboratory etc. Basically when it comes to building. If the AI don't build it now they will never will no mater what you do. Also not a good idea to put WaterBound=yes on any building that the AI can make. It will spam that one building over and over…

 

Notify me of replies ON.

[DarkVen9109]

Dude! how were you able to add Kirov Airship there?  :O. This one is a legend!!  :O

[halley50]

where I can download this mod?