Testers needed for open-source RA1

[Iran 42]

Looking for people to test open-source RA1, it's based on the remaster code base but intending to play like on CnCNet and not like remaster. It uses the original ("legacy") game files so you don't need to buy Remaster or anything. We're intending to support all the CnCNet patches in the future (high res, mousewheel sidebar scrolling, CnCNet) but we're not at that stage yet.

If you wanna test just join the Discord chat channel: https://discord.gg/UnWK2Tw

For developers, the URL is https://github.com/TheAssemblyArmada/Vanilla-Conquer

[Messiah 52]

Will mods for RA1 or RA1 3.03-portable (Iran patch) work on this?

[Iran 42]

It will support ra1 mods as it's based on the original code. I'm actively adding features from the cncnet patches (including my patches and others) but those aren't done yet but I'm fully dedicated to adding support for mods, and much more features than possible before.

The project is still in alpha state but we really could use testers. It's open testing so there are no secrets or drama.

[Iran 42]

If you can tell me what features you want I can add them. 😀

[Messiah 52]

I think about to port my old Discovert Operations mod for this, which bases on a custom ra95.exe, which supports new units and Tschokkys terrain expansion packs, e.g. cave theater.

Things that could be fixed are the "new construction options" bug, when owning both allied and soviet helipads; and the IQ=5 bug in singleplayer mode, what allows the AI house to build units of both sides, regardless of Owner= and Prerequisite= settings.

I probably will have time in spring or summer for some testing

[Iran 42]

I'm the one who made that custom ra95.exe.

I wrote some code to read theaters from a custom control file so you can add extra, also fixed the new construction bug. Code isn't in the main development codebase yet though.

The IQ=5 bug in single player mode is interesting. Do you have a test map?

I also wrote some code for, SP AI base buildings (e.g. [Base] for every ai player instead of just 1 player), right click scroll coasting like in ra2, autosave replays and replay playback (with its own menu), autosave & quicksave, high res with centering of all menus, spawner.

I still need to port a few things from my custom ra95.exe patches (and things funkyfr3sh made for CnCNet patches and AlexB's ARDA patch made).

I also unhardcoded waypoints so you can have more than 97, and unhardcoded the movies that can be played in a map file.

Big thing that still needs to be done is unhard-coding a bunch of internal logic for stuff like infantry (so that they can be set in rules and maps ini) and adding support for adding new stuff like infantry.

[Messiah 52]

19 hours ago, Iran said:

The IQ=5 bug in single player mode is interesting. Do you have a test map?
 

Try this one. Both enemy houses are set to IQ=5. The pale red guy will immediately build Tanya and Mammoth tanks although it has no tech center (and Turkey was an allied house anyway if I remember right)

It appeared in all versions of the original RA1, I don't know if this is already fixed in the remastered game.

cmu98ea.ini

Edited February 8 by Messiah

[Iran 42]

Thanks, just spent 20 minutes fixing it. Issue is that AI can build everything in single player. I added a extra check to prevent this if base building trigger is activated or if IQ is at or higher than ProductionIQ.

I also implemented the theme.ini code so you can add new songs. Allows for overwriting the hard-coded list or appending to the hard-coded list of songs.

[Iran 42]

I've updated code for cameo sorting sidebar cameos, and also to 'fix' the 'bug' where you can still buy Mammoth Tanks after tech centre is destroyed. They're optional rules.ini mod keys.

I added code so you can add extra theaters (tilesets) via the game via theater.ini file. And for every theater you can now add extra templates, terrain, smudges and overlays via the <theater_name>.ini file (e.g. temperat.ini). I also added some code that can read in a custom list of cells (using Ares' format) this can later be used to read in custom building foundations.

I also unhardcoded the movies that can be read from a scenario file, the game will now play movies listed in scenario files as long as they're loaded in a mix file.

[Iran 42]

I've unhardcoded weapons, warheads, bullets, sounds effects, eva speech sounds, infantry, buildings, vehicles, vessels, aircrafts. You can also make clones of existing units and do stuff like custom buildings foundations, adding extra fakes and adding new walls.

 

TODO:
-Superweapons
-Animations
-Sides/countries
-MCV undeploy logic
-Conyard redeoploy logic (mcv redeploy)
-Refinery gets free Harvester (FreeUnit)
-Crate goodies
-Starting Units
-Helipad gets free heli (heli depends on side, -> needs to be per country and configurable)
-Owner&SpiedBuildings bitfields need to be turned into dynamic vector class
 

Once that is done I can copy paste TD logic into RA1. Maybe look into doing custom palettes.

I've also added deploy hotkey & building placement hotkey (like in RA2/YR). I added support for sidebar icon cameo sorting. Copied someone else''s fix for mission ambush not working, fixed AI not repairing [Base] buildings and not playing construction animation for them. Also made a new rules.ini key to fix the tech up bug where you can sell Tech Center and keep units like Mammoth tank. I made a fix for the Mobile Gap Gen not updating on your radar map properly if it's moving.

I'm currently working on adding support for beacons. Beacon placement works but I gotta write some code for deleting beacons still. Then I gotta support for radar events so the beacon shows up in the radar map and you can (like in RA2/YR and Generals/ZH) press a key (default spacebar I guess) to jump your viewport to where that event occured.

 

Other than that I'm also interested in adding support for tech building. I'm following a new tool used by Skyrim/Fallout modders to generate new voice samples from an existing AI voice model. I'm waiting for them to add support for generating ("training") new models so we can generate new EVA voices for events.

I'm looking into doing near perfect aspect ratio conversion for CRTs without flickering shimmering. CRTs have rectangular pixels while LCDs have square pixels. The game needs to be scaled 20% higher to be at the correct CRT aspect ratio it's designed for. using bilinear scaling or nearest neighbour both present issues. Apparently the DosBox people have some code for it to correct for it and there apparently are a bunch of shaders that can do the upscaling and one that can pixelate the screen a little bit to remove minor blur, but I gotta look into it still (no one seems to care about this).

What MIGHT work well for scaling is upscaling image 5x width and 6x height then downscaling back to the normal resolution via bilinear scaling and adding a little bit of the pixelate shader so compensate for minor blur added by bilinear scaling

[Iran 42]

Say playing at 640x480 you need to internally use 640x400. then upscale that to 3200x2400 and then downscale that using bilinear scaling back to 640x480, apply a little bit of pixelate shader. It will never be pixel perfect but I want it to be a 1 pixel difference at most.