Welcome to F[AI]r Mod (VERSION 1.2 HAS BEEN RELEASED!!!)

[BRCKHAN88]

!!! A COMPREHENSIVE UPDATE HAS BEEN RELEASED !!! 

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE LATEST VERSION FROM HERE !!!

 

 

!!!CAUTION - THIS AI NEEDS ARES & PHOBOS EXTENSIONS TO WORK PROPERLY. !!!

 

***Summary***

The main aim of this project is improve Red Alert 2 + Yuri's Revenge is improving gameplay dynamics and experience without creating unfair conditions. As we know how awful and out of intelligence RA2 YR AI is, I wanted to develop a new AI that acts more responsive and more effective depends on momentary circumstances. I experienced most of  solutions developed by other players, unfortunately most of them based on producing and sending bigger taskforces by provide most of power and resource to AI that Human players can't have (like all factories acting like Clonning Wats) because of the game rules and dynamics. That makes the gameplay challenging I agree, but unfair. In addition to this , some of the AI mods have lot's of modded units for AI but player can not produce. This destroys the pure vanilla gaming experience.

For now on, I am proudly share my AI and Reballance modification, named F[AI]r Mod. It provides AI acting agile and responsive depend on the momentary conditions like create more intelligent taskforces applying flexible scripts with original units in fair conditions. I also made some minor modifications in game that does not affect the real game experience. Thanks to developers of ARES and Phobos Extension for contributing my modifications.

 

***Installation of Mod***

+Drag and drop all the files in the .zip into the main directory as they are. You don't need to make any backups. 

***Uninstallation of Mod***

+Run "un[AI]nstaller.bat" in admin mode to remove it. After that, you must reinstall the latest CnCnet patch from the Update Center. It will restore the whole game.

 

***List of Change&Additions***

1. Fixes & Additions & Changes I applied in Vanilla Red Alert 2 + YR
* FIXED AI taskforces stuck in his own base.
* FIXED Yuri Tank Bunker can not populate in every angle. Now all bunkerable tanks get into the bunker in any direction.
* FIXED AI cannot send their taskforces to defend their buildings when they under attack.
* FIXED AI unit freeze randomly.
* FIXED Siege Choppers can not apply any of Regroup scripts.
* FIXED IFV repair turret. Now AI unit repair his own units in any angle.
* FIXED Infinite Money glitch on House who has Grinder and Industrial Plant at the same time.
* FIXED Elite Chrono Legionnaire can not shoot through walls.
* FIXED Allied Amphibious Transport can crush infantries when Soviet and Yuri counterparts can not.
* FIXED Prism Tower Support Power shots make instant kill on every units.
* FIXED Invisible Apocalypse Muzzle Flash.
+ ADDED Inactive Service Deports for Allied&Soviet AI. This will trigger it's MCV Production.
& CHANGED Crush distance from 1.8 to 6 so most of AI battle tanks prefer crush infantries instead of firing.
& CHANGED Allied Power Plant increased to 250 power from 200, so Allied counterpart now gain more foundation areas.
& CHANGED Yuri Bio Reactors reduced to 100 from 150 for supply power ballance between factions.
& CHANGED Tank Destroyer weapon attributes; Increased Range:(Green: 5-->6.75; Elite: 6.5-->7.5). In addition of these, Both of weapons apply enemy structures more than original (But their damage still weaker than the Grizzly does.). Now Tank destroyers become more valuable assets in Tank battles.
& CHANGED Tesla Tanks weapon attributes; Increased Range:(Green: 4-->5; Elite: 6-->6.5). 
& CHANGED All AA Vehicles (IFV,Flak Track) OpportunitiyFire to "yes" from "no". Now all of them shoot in mobile.
& CHANGED Apocalypse & Tesla Tanks OpportunityFire to "yes" from "no". Now Soviet Power Supremes obtain a real "Challenge".
& CHANGED Flak Trooper's Elite AA weapon damage:8-->20. Now they earn "Real Promotion" consider as at least they have a job.
& CHANGED Patriot Missiles and Flak Cannons weapon attribute: Now they will also fire at Paratroopers.
& CHANGED Elite Prism and Magnetron Weapon Range: 10-->12.
& CHANGED Sight of Ranged Units (Prism Tank, Magnetron, V3) is equalized in 10.
& CHANGED Primary Weapon of Battle Fortress has been changed. Now they are firing PARA instead of 20mmRapid (damage and range increased).
& CHANGED Vehicles Movement zones. Now all tanks with turret will destroy the obstacles on their road rather than moving around.
& CHANGED Miners size in transport:(Chrono & War Miner:3-->4; Slave Miner:3-->6). I increased Slave Miner's size more than other because Slave Miner has embeded refinery. This makes more sense to me.
& CHANGED Magnetron's and Apocalypse's size in transport:(6-->4) Now Soviet and Yuri counterparts make more efficient naval invasions.
& CHANGED Max Queued Objects to 99 from 29. You can easily manage queued units by combination of Click+SHIFT.
& CHANGED Threat Values of every Single Unit for AI.
& CHANGED Tiberium Long Scan Radius. Now Miners wandering for new resources on far points.
- REMOVED AI Money Bonus in Multiplayer. Now AI and Human Players start in the same conditions.

2. Additions with ARES Extension
* FIXED Factories acting like Clonning Vats for AI. 
+ ADDED AI will build multiple factories (Depends on their diffculty.) This metod makes AI fairer than the clonning method in producing bigger taskforces.
+ ADDED Team Retaliate feature for every Taskforces. Now AI taskforces will act like a group rather than acting individual.
+ ADDED colorful walls. Looks amazing and also every players may notice their own walls for sell.

!!!NOTE: You can also read all fixes ARES made on Vanilla YR Engine from this webpage: https://ares-developers.github.io/Ares-docs/bugfixes/

3. Additions with Phobos Extension
* FIXED AA Only Weapons now targetting AA units effective like ground targetting.
+ ADDED Placement Preview on every building.
+ ADDED New intelligent attack script on AI Taskforces. Now AI will hunt down every single unit smarter than regular. (You can find it here: https://phobos.readthedocs.io/en/v0.3.0.1/AI-Scripting-and-Mapping.html)

!!!NOTE: You can also read all fixes Phobos made on Vanilla YR Engine from this webpage: https://phobos.readthedocs.io/en/v0.3.0.1/Fixed-or-Improved-Logics.html

 

I'll be grateful If you share your feedback and suggestions with me after you get experienced so I can continue to develop my work.

 

Stay tuned for next updates. Have a good battle, comrades

 

Edited Monday at 03:46 PM by BRCKHAN88
Added list of changes of My work.

[Pyrite]

Quote

* FIXED Infinite Money glitch on House who has Grinder and Industrial Plant at the same time.

Good thinking, and I like how you did that. The Industrial Plant only improves production efficiency, leading to less waste of time and resources, but a unit can still contain a set amount of a material (steel, copper or whatever). But realistically some of the material is always lost when recycling because it can never be perfect, so you reduced the unit soylents to 75% of the unit's original price to prevent the exploit.

I also noticed that you reduced the brute soylent too.

Quote

* FIXED Elite Chrono Legionnaire can not shoot through walls.

[...]

& CHANGED Flak Trooper's Elite AA weapon damage:8-->20. Now they earn "Real Promotion" consider as at least they have a job.

Yup, these were pretty blatant oversights. Especially the latter because you can realistically have a lot more elite FTs.

Quote

+ ADDED Inactive Service Deports for Allied&Soviet AI. This will trigger it's MCV Production.

Nice. The AI should always have been smart enough to have Service Depots and build MCVs.

Quote

& CHANGED Crush distance from 1.8 to 6 so most of AI battle tanks prefer crush infantries instead of firing.

Yup, low-tech combat tanks and pre-elite Apocs are ineffective against infantry, so they're better off crushing them (maybe not Apocs because they're too plodding to actually get infantry under their treads). And Mirages are too fragile and effective against infantry to feel the need to crush inf (Prisms too, but they don't quite fit the "battle tank" category).

Quote

& CHANGED Allied Power Plant increased to 250 power from 200, so Allied counterpart now gain more foundation areas.

& CHANGED Yuri Bio Reactors reduced to 100 from 150 for supply power ballance between factions.

These things needed a balance. The Allied PPs are good in a vacuum, but the other factions have ways to get even more power.

Quote

& CHANGED Tank Destroyer weapon attributes; Increased Range:(Green: 5-->6.75; Elite: 6.5-->7.5). In addition of these, Both of weapons apply enemy structures more than original (But their damage still weaker than the Grizzly does.). Now Tank destroyers become more valuable assets in Tank battles.

They always needed a buff, but no one quite agrees on how much or in which way. Rhinos can just dodge them, Grizzlies do so even better, and you just deal with artillery using other stuff. Yes, the range should be better (Traditional German tank destroyers had long range). But they should still be worse than Mirages because they're lower tech.

Quote

& CHANGED Tesla Tanks weapon attributes; Increased Range:(Green: 4-->5; Elite: 6-->6.5). 

IKR, vanilla Teslas are terrible even ignoring the country-exclusive unit competition from Desolators due to having the range of a battering ram (heck, they look like one to boot!). They're also pretty squishy even with "heavy" armor, so they can't ever hit any units before taking damage and getting destroyed easily, to the point that even slow fragile prisms have them beaten in terms of survivability because at least they can outrange stuff. They have amazing firepower against units, and the mod Yuri Rebalanced dropped the ball by making them OP with almost a prism-level range, so they don't need THAT much, they just need average range to be balanced. A nice compromise there.

Quote

& CHANGED All AA Vehicles (IFV,Flak Track) OpportunitiyFire to "yes" from "no". Now all of them shoot in mobile.

I can understand giving IFVs that (the Allies have worse AA so you can compensate), but Flak Tracks are already good enough without that IMHO.

Quote

& CHANGED Apocalypse & Tesla Tanks OpportunityFire to "yes" from "no". Now Soviet Power Supremes obtain a real "Challenge".

ITA on Teslas because they're fast nippy glass cannons meant to mainly deal with mobile units, but not sure about Apocs. It doesn't fit their flavor. They're supposed to be slow and powerful juggernauts. Maybe give them +1 extra range instead. Also, their acceleration issue seems to be hardcoded, so you can only fix that by making an identical new unit. Without acceleration, they'd be still slow, but only as slow as BFs and prisms, which would be fair.

Quote

& CHANGED Patriot Missiles and Flak Cannons weapon attribute: Now they will also fire at Paratroopers.

Just makes sense.

Quote

& CHANGED Elite Prism and Magnetron Weapon Range: 10-->12.

& CHANGED Sight of Ranged Units (Prism Tank, Magnetron, V3) is equalized in 10.

In the earlier builds, elite mags had their range worsen against vehicles (from 12 to 10). According to the cnc wiki, it supposedly got fixed, but when I check the original ini, it still has a range of 10. 😖

Elite prisms will be even more nasty now. Killing desos with impunity, not getting outranged by deployed choppers or mags anymore, 14 (!) range in tank bunkers in FFG style games and/or ones with promo crates... The only problem would be actually reaching the elite status.

Also yup, artillery units should have great vision. You can't shoot very far if you can't see the target after all. No more getting melted by towers or bunkers you normally outrange just because you didn't clear the shroud yet.

I also noticed you gave artillery the flag ToProtect. The AI won't be dumb enough to send them alone to destroy buildings.

Quote

& CHANGED Primary Weapon of Battle Fortress has been changed. Now they are firing PARA instead of 20mmRapid (damage and range increased).

BFs are micro-heavy because they can behave pretty erratically at times, moving towards a bunch of mind control units, using the built-in machine gun instead of the better weapons from the infantry inside it among other things, so making the built-in weapon better will make it less erratic. Good thinking doing so without really buffing them even more at all otherwise.

Quote

& CHANGED Vehicles Movement zones. Now all tanks with turret will destroy the obstacles on their road rather than moving around.

Depends on the obstacle, but most tanks aren't very good against structures.

Quote

& CHANGED Miners size in transport:(Chrono & War Miner:3-->4; Slave Miner:3-->6). I increased Slave Miner's size more than other because Slave Miner has embeded refinery. This makes more sense to me.
& CHANGED Magnetron's and Apocalypse's size in transport:(6-->4) Now Soviet and Yuri counterparts make more efficient naval invasions.

Miners carry ore, and Yuri's carries even more.

And never understood why mags and Apocs take up 6 slots. They should be smaller than a freaking MCV at least. Especially mags because there's no reason why they should be larger than most other vehicles.

[BRCKHAN88]

Thank you for your valuable comments, I plan to share the CnCNet-compatible version with additional arrangements in a couple of days. However, I'm going to make this project more comprehensive than just a few .ini modifications, because most of the changes I want to make are structural. My future goal is to implement this as an update to the game if we can get the concept to a majority in this thread.

It would be useful for me to clarify a couple of points you made in your comment, because I think the goal is not quite clear at that point:

Quote

I can understand giving IFVs that (the Allies have worse AA so you can compensate), but Flak Tracks are already good enough without that IMHO.

Flak weapons are effective in multiple targets because of it's spreading projectile but when the distance increases with target, it can easily loose it's impact and the accuracy gets unstable . On the other hand Flak track has an special ability to crush fences and sandbags so it's spreading projectile becomes an advantage only if it can shoot on mobile to maintain it's optimal distance IMHO. 

 

Quote

ITA on Teslas because they're fast nippy glass cannons meant to mainly deal with mobile units, but not sure about Apocs. It doesn't fit their flavor. They're supposed to be slow and powerful juggernauts. Maybe give them +1 extra range instead. Also, their acceleration issue seems to be hardcoded, so you can only fix that by making an identical new unit. Without acceleration, they'd be still slow, but only as slow as BFs and prisms, which would be fair.

To be honest, I don't agree with this point, because Apocs are juggernaut units, they need to be heavy and effective offensively, whereas, with a fixed turret, it is more advantageous to position them only defensively because as you say they are too slow to make an effective attack and this makes them an open target. So providing mobile firing capability doesn't make them more agile, but it makes them an effective offensive unit. Because I think Apoc should have enough endurance to take at least 4-5 units with it until it is destroyed, and it is difficult to achieve this without mobility. If I increase the range, Apoc will stop being an offensive unit and become a defensive artillery and this will take the unit away from its original purpose.

Edited June 10 by BRCKHAN88

[BRCKHAN88]

On 6/7/2024 at 6:17 PM, BRCKHAN88 said:

!!!DISCLAIMER - THIS AI NEEDS ARES & PHOBOS EXTENSIONS TO WORK PROPERLY. !!!

The main aim of this project is improve Red Alert 2 + Yuri's Revenge is improving gameplay dynamics and experience without creating unfair conditions. As we know how awful and out of intelligence RA2 YR AI is, I wanted to develop a new AI that acts more responsive and more effective depends on momentary circumstances. I experienced most of  solutions developed by other players, unfortunately most of them based on producing and sending bigger taskforces by provide most of power and resource to AI that Human players can't have (like all factories acting like Clonning Wats) because of the game rules and dynamics. That makes the gameplay challenging I agree, but unfair. In addition to this , some of the AI mods have lot's of modded units for AI but player can not produce. This destroys the pure vanilla gaming experience.

For now on, I am proudly share my AI and Reballance modification, named F[AI]r Mod. It provides AI acting agile and responsive depend on the momentary conditions like create more intelligent taskforces applying flexible scripts with original units in fair conditions. I also made some minor modifications in game that does not affect the real game experience. Thanks to developers of ARES and Phobos Extension for contributing my modifications.

Here is the list of additions and changes I made in game:

1. Fixes & Additions & Changes I applied in Vanilla Red Alert 2 + YR
* FIXED AI taskforces stuck in his own base.
* FIXED Yuri Tank Bunker can not populate in every angle. Now all bunkerable tanks get into the bunker in any direction.
* FIXED AI cannot send their taskforces to defend their buildings when they under attack.
* FIXED AI unit freeze randomly.
* FIXED Siege Choppers can not apply any of Regroup scripts.
* FIXED IFV repair turret. Now AI unit repair his own units in any angle.
* FIXED Infinite Money glitch on House who has Grinder and Industrial Plant at the same time.
* FIXED Elite Chrono Legionnaire can not shoot through walls.
* FIXED Allied Amphibious Transport can crush infantries when Soviet and Yuri counterparts can not.
* FIXED Prism Tower Support Power shots make instant kill on every units.
* FIXED Invisible Apocalypse Muzzle Flash.
+ ADDED Inactive Service Deports for Allied&Soviet AI. This will trigger it's MCV Production.
& CHANGED Crush distance from 1.8 to 6 so most of AI battle tanks prefer crush infantries instead of firing.
& CHANGED Allied Power Plant increased to 250 power from 200, so Allied counterpart now gain more foundation areas.
& CHANGED Yuri Bio Reactors reduced to 100 from 150 for supply power ballance between factions.
& CHANGED Tank Destroyer weapon attributes; Increased Range:(Green: 5-->6.75; Elite: 6.5-->7.5). In addition of these, Both of weapons apply enemy structures more than original (But their damage still weaker than the Grizzly does.). Now Tank destroyers become more valuable assets in Tank battles.
& CHANGED Tesla Tanks weapon attributes; Increased Range:(Green: 4-->5; Elite: 6-->6.5). 
& CHANGED All AA Vehicles (IFV,Flak Track) OpportunitiyFire to "yes" from "no". Now all of them shoot in mobile.
& CHANGED Apocalypse & Tesla Tanks OpportunityFire to "yes" from "no". Now Soviet Power Supremes obtain a real "Challenge".
& CHANGED Flak Trooper's Elite AA weapon damage:8-->20. Now they earn "Real Promotion" consider as at least they have a job.
& CHANGED Patriot Missiles and Flak Cannons weapon attribute: Now they will also fire at Paratroopers.
& CHANGED Elite Prism and Magnetron Weapon Range: 10-->12.
& CHANGED Sight of Ranged Units (Prism Tank, Magnetron, V3) is equalized in 10.
& CHANGED Primary Weapon of Battle Fortress has been changed. Now they are firing PARA instead of 20mmRapid (damage and range increased).
& CHANGED Vehicles Movement zones. Now all tanks with turret will destroy the obstacles on their road rather than moving around.
& CHANGED Miners size in transport:(Chrono & War Miner:3-->4; Slave Miner:3-->6). I increased Slave Miner's size more than other because Slave Miner has embeded refinery. This makes more sense to me.
& CHANGED Magnetron's and Apocalypse's size in transport:(6-->4) Now Soviet and Yuri counterparts make more efficient naval invasions.
& CHANGED Max Queued Objects to 99 from 29. You can easily manage queued units by combination of Click+SHIFT.
& CHANGED Threat Values of every Single Unit for AI.
& CHANGED Tiberium Long Scan Radius. Now Miners wandering for new resources on far points.
- REMOVED AI Money Bonus in Multiplayer. Now AI and Human Players start in the same conditions.

2. Additions with ARES 3.0
* FIXED Factories acting like Clonning Vats for AI. 
+ ADDED AI will build multiple factories (Depends on their diffculty.) This metod makes AI fairer than the clonning method in producing bigger taskforces.
+ ADDED Team Retaliate feature for every Taskforces. Now AI taskforces will act like a group rather than acting individual.
+ ADDED colorful walls. Looks amazing and also every players may notice their own walls for sell.

!!!NOTE: You can also read all fixes ARES made on Vanilla YR Engine from this webpage: https://ares-developers.github.io/Ares-docs/bugfixes/

3. Additions with Phobos Extension 0.3.0.1
* FIXED AA Only Weapons now targetting AA units effective like ground targetting.
+ ADDED Placement Preview on every building.
+ ADDED New intelligent attack script on AI Taskforces. Now AI will hunt down every single unit smarter than regular. (You can find it here: https://phobos.readthedocs.io/en/v0.3.0.1/AI-Scripting-and-Mapping.html)

!!!NOTE: You can also read all fixes Phobos made on Vanilla YR Engine from this webpage: https://phobos.readthedocs.io/en/v0.3.0.1/Fixed-or-Improved-Logics.html

 

I'll be grateful If you share your feedback and suggestions with me after you get experienced so I can continue to develop my work.

 

Stay tuned for next updates. Have a good battle, comrades

 

!!!THE FIRST INITIAL RELEASE IS JUST COMPLETED. GET READY FOR THE TEST!!!

WARNING: This mod is a comprehensive enhancement in the vanilla game dynamics, No significant alterations and modifications occurred "ex: Another Boomer Sub unit but modified for only fire on the land or building Yuri Statue as a defensive structure, etc."

Known Error: The current mod always keeps crashing with the new spawner (gamemd_spawn.exe), so it runs on classic gamemd.exe. I would appreciate if you could let me know where I need to edit ClientDefinitions.ini or any other configuration file.

1. New Fixes & Additions & Changes I applied in Vanilla Red Alert 2 + YR

* FIXED AI Defensive Units Stop Approaching any attacker, stuck on its latest cell and locked on their latest attacker in If they took any damage...

* FIXED Harvesters stop collecting when no ores remain in a moment. Now AI will trigger their idle miners.

+ ADDED MCV Production Priority feature.

2. New Additions with Phobos Extension 0.3.0.1

+ ADDED Efficient Bridge Repairing operation by AI. (Not intelligent, just a bit more efficient than Vanilla, because AI does not detect which bridges are destroyed in the map & Which side of Repair Hut is available to reach.

 

Installation of Mod:

+Drag and drop all the files in the .zip into the main directory as they are. You don't need to make any backups. 

Uninstallation of Mod:

+Run "un[AI]nstaller.bat" in admin mode to remove it. After that, you must reinstall the latest CnCnet patch from the Update Center. It will restore the whole game.

 

Edited Monday at 12:12 PM by BRCKHAN88

[BRCKHAN88]

!!!HOTFIX & LATEST PHOBOS EXTENSION HAVE BEEN APPLIED ON V1.1!!!

Edited Monday at 12:31 PM by BRCKHAN88

[BRCKHAN88]

!!! A COMPREHENSIVE UPDATE HAS BEEN RELEASED !!! 

You can download the latest version from here!!!

 

UPDATE NOTES:

1. Fixes I applied:

- Yuri Bust skin and animations updated. Now it has a higher resolution and it's firing with two lasers.

- San Francisco misc building 1 (CASANF17) occupation muzzle Fire positions have been fixed on artmd.ini.

- Large task forces sometimes get stuck on gathering commands. The pathfinding algorithm of the game is totally crap but I make it much better for AI.

 

2. Additions & Changes:

- The whole aimd.ini has been edited for optimization (trigger weights, taskforces, scripts, etc.). Clean coding has been applied for developers interested in developing this project.

- Brutal AI making more constant attacks with small task forces.

- Flak troopers can now be trained directly from Soviet Barracks without Radar Tower for balance.

 

I will be releasing a more comprehensive structural update with campaign support for those interested in the near future. Stay tuned for further updates😎🤘

 

[Bobble]

Forget wanting to get it applies to cncnet, it'll never happen. People have been wanting basic things for years, and it's never happened (e.g. a few extra cameos for MOD maps which literally take a few seconds to add-in and some people made a few generic cameos already).

If you are able to make your AI a simple copy-paste add-in for MOD maps, without needing Ares etc, it's probably the best way for now. Get people adding it in to their maps to build traction. 

[Bobble]

Another example, I been asking for a year now for cncnet to bind usernames (to an email etc) or stop instant name changes.

Around 500 active players worldwide, and a lot of them are toxic AHoles on a 20 year old game, behaving as if they were still 9 lol.

Many change thier game name literally daily to bash noobs, or continue thier toxic behavior (general abusive chat etc).

If cncnet is able to tell you when the user was last on (!seen command) and thier previous names (!whois command), then a few lines of code can fix this toxicity by simply limiting name changes to 1 per month. Literally 1 line of code to ensure current user name is <30 days old.

They haven't fixed basic things like this, so adding a new AI has ZERO chance. Sorry, but it's reality.

[BRCKHAN88]

1 hour ago, Bobble said:

Forget wanting to get it applies to cncnet, it'll never happen. People have been wanting basic things for years, and it's never happened (e.g. a few extra cameos for MOD maps which literally take a few seconds to add-in and some people made a few generic cameos already).

If you are able to make your AI a simple copy-paste add-in for MOD maps, without needing Ares etc, it's probably the best way for now. Get people adding it in to their maps to build traction. 

Unfortunately you're right about this. As for me, persuade all C&C community applying my modification to improve their gaming experience from 23 years old game is an utopia, considering there are a few people left who plays c&c games, and also this is not my direct motivation. I'm just a simple RA2 player who wants to take care of it's faults and shortcomings just obtain more fun from that.

 

Cncnet just provide us more modern and stable platform to play it together. That's why I am sharing my modification from here, hope to find some people having similar expectations. Nothing more.

Edited Thursday at 04:57 PM by BRCKHAN88