Red Alert 1 Mission Converter (3.03p-Iran custom missions dialog)

[FunkyFr3sh]

With this tool you can convert old missions/campaigns to the new format used in irans patch.

The converted missions can be used as add-on files instead of replacing the original missions (shown in the custom missions dialog)

 

Just copy all the campaign files into the same folder as the tool (It does not read mix files, make sure you extract the missions with XCC-Mixer first - http://xhp.xwis.net/ ), fire it up, enter the name of the campaign, choose a campaign number and hit "Convert All"...

The following numbers are already in use:

 

100-107: Deadly war

108-128: Flame Dancers Genesis set 1

129-149: (Reserved) Flame Dancers Genesis set 2

 

-

 

After the conversion you will find the files inside of the Converted-Missions folder, either copy the files directly into your game folder or put them into a mix file (a blank mix file is included, make sure the mix filename starts with sc-) and copy the mix into your game folder!

 

Supported files:

mission files (sc*ea.ini)

rules.ini

aftrmath.ini

mission.ini

tutorial.ini

custom units / buildings (*.shp)

 

Not supported:

Custom sounds

Files that can't be renamed by the Converter (e.g. 01EAB4F1)

 

Campaigns which are shipped with a custom ra95.exe/dat or a patcher might not be fully convertable

 

Download: http://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert/RA1MissionConverter.exe

 

 

Note:

this is a alpha version, i'm not sure if it all works perfectly! Testers needed!

The converted missions are not working with the original 3.03 patch! Get the 3.03p-Iran patch from the following site if you don't have the game patched yet: http://cnc-comm.com/community/index.php?topic=1918.0

 

 

Here are loads of missions/campaigns if someone likes to test around:

http://ra.afraid.org/html/downloads/missions.html

http://ra.afraid.org/html/downloads/campaigns.html

 

 

[Nyerguds]

"Shp files with Hex names (eg. 01EAB4F1.shp)"

 

Eh? You do realize that if you see a hex number in XCC Mixer, that just means the filename is unidentified, right? It won't have ".shp" behind it, either, since it's just the name ID stored in the mix. It'll just have "SHP" in the 'type' column.

 

And anyway, the Name= tags in the inis should help identify those SHPs.

[FunkyFr3sh]

Well, i wasnt sure why it doesnt show the true names .. in the flamedancers campaign the mammoth tank was replaced with a custom shp, but there is no "image=" tag to change the image to a custom graphic ... shouldnt xcc be able to turn the hex into the true name since the mammoth tank is a known shp ?

 

the name tags don't tell me much, the graphics are too weird .. no idea what could be what just by the name

[Nyerguds]

That's strange indeed. In that case it should just be 4tnk.shp. Did you check for Image= tags in the actual missions?

 

Any place I can find the mod to test this?

[FunkyFr3sh]

I don't really have all the original files for set1 anymore, but i'm gonna check it out again the next days .. will convert it again with the new tool

[Manux]

Hello Guys :-D

 

Here ist the first batch of converted missions :-D

 

Included:

- 30 custom Missions

- 4 Full campaigns

- Flamedancer missions

 

Grab it here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/imp69t

 

Have fun playing

 

 

[FunkyFr3sh]

nice, good job

 

make sure you use the latest version, fixed a couple of bugs the last days

[Zjorz]

Wow that flame dancers campaign is awesome. Has anybody converted the second part of the campaign? Looking forward to playing it!

[FunkyFr3sh]

nope, flame dancers comes with custom hex named files someone gotta find out the true names of the files and rename them before its possible to convert them...

on top of that, the second part also comes with custom sounds which makes it impossible to create an completely working add-on campaign of it

[Zjorz]

Bummer. Anyway im still glad you created this tool. Finally a user friendly way to convert and play older campaigns 

 

Keep up the good work!

[Nyerguds]

aren't these true names simply in the Image= tags of the rules.ini file though? It's impossible that the filenames can't be retrieved, because then the game wouldn't be able to read them either...

[FunkyFr3sh]

could be an image= tag or could be a modified ra95.exe :/

 

if its an written in the map/rules.ini, how would i know which image= value belongs to which file?

[Nyerguds]

...what kind of dumb question is that? Image= GIVES the new file name! For every Image=XXXX set under a unit header, try out all XXXX.shp and XXXXICON.shp. If it's a building, try out XXXX.shp/tem/sno/int, XXXXICON.shp and XXXXMAKE.shp/tem/sno/int

 

So you just try extracting the file / matching the IDs of all of those possibilities.

[FunkyFr3sh]

sure you can do it manually like this with a lof of testing... but how would you do that via an automatic converter when there are tons of files and tons of possible filenames

 

here is an example taken from a campaign:

 

[sTEK]

Image=TOWR

 

[TSLA]

Image=PTOW

 

[V24]

Image=MOSQ

 

These files are included:

1E22E600 1E22E608 2222E5FA 381C2709 5CADAA00 5CB9AA00 5CBBAC00 5CBFAA00 91BCA52F BDCB9E27 F1F4F1C8 F4F6F1D6 FEE6FBCE

 

so... tell me which Image value belongs to which file?

 

 

[Nyerguds]

Can't your app read the ids from the mix header? You simply calculate the IDs of these strings I gave, and match them. The algorithm for that is in the XCC sources, and I got a C# version in my mix filename finder as well. (in fact, a tool with only the ID calculation is also on my site, here)

 

[edit]

 

1E22E600

1E22E608

2222E5FA

381C2709 = PTOWMAKE.SHP

5CADAA00

5CB9AA00

5CBBAC00

5CBFAA00

91BCA52F

BDCB9E27

F1F4F1C8 = MOSQ.SNO

F4F6F1D6 = TOWR.SHP

FEE6FBCE = PTOW.SHP

 

Are those all the Image= tags and all files? Because that's all I can identify from those. Could you link me to where I can download the thing?

 

Anyway, full list:

 

F4F6F1D6 = TOWR.SHP

F1F3F2D6 = TOWR.TEM

F3FCF1D6 = TOWR.SNO

243C1319 = TOWRMAKE.SHP

36441711 = TOWRICON.SHP

 

FEE6FBCE = PTOW.SHP

FBE3FCCE = PTOW.TEM

FDECFBCE = PTOW.SNO

381C2709 = PTOWMAKE.SHP

4A242B01 = PTOWICON.SHP

 

F2EEF1C8 = MOSQ.SHP

EFEBF2C8 = MOSQ.TEM

F1F4F1C8 = MOSQ.SNO

202C12FD = MOSQMAKE.SHP

323416F5 = MOSQICON.SHP

 

I assume some/all of these are enemy stuff you can't actually build as player, though, so it's possible some don't have buildups or icons.

 

[edit]

 

Funky kindly informed me the first 3 are missions. Some scanning of the basic mission filename formats gave

 

1E22E600 = SCU05EB.INI

1E22E608 = SCU09EB.INI

2222E5FA = SCU12EB.INI

 

[Nyerguds]

Hah! I found the mystery files! They're some of the Desert civilian buildings, but with .TEM extension. No wonder XCC didn't recognize them

 

5CADAA00 = V20.TEM

5CB9AA00 = V26.TEM

5CBBAC00 = V37.TEM

5CBFAA00 = V29.TEM

 

And

 

BDCB9E27 = SPIKE.SHP

 

...which is mentioned in rules.ini as Image= for [bomblet].

 

 

No idea about the last one, 91BCA52F, though. It's the same SHP as V29.TEM, but beyond that, no clue.

 

[edit]

 

Got it! Forgot to apply my own rules there, lol XD

 

91BCA52F = V29MAKE.TEM

 

[edit again]

 

Attached the extracted files 

sc-999.zip

[FunkyFr3sh]

pretty nice, good job

[Nyerguds]

It seems that to be completely sure, you need to scan which units and buildings are used in the missions, and then extract all those and their icons. For buildings, you need all the possible combinations of theaters and make-animations, too.

[FunkyFr3sh]

k, gonna try to derp something together the next days!

[Nyerguds]

heck, you can optimize it by reading the theater for each mission too, so you know which theater extension(s) the building SHPs can have.

[Lightning Hunter]

Was the issue of unrecognized file names ever resolved?  I am trying to convert all the missions from "A New Era", but there are a handful of unidentified SHP files (files like 01f3ff19.shp), and I don't know what to do with them.

http://ra.afraid.org/download.php/campaigns/ANewEraV20.zip

 

 

I read through all these posts, but I do not see a clear way to find the proper file name for these unidentified SHP files.

[FunkyFr3sh]

you will have to check the map files or the rules.ini files to see what unit is using a custom graphic, takes some time to figure it out

[zocom7]

Thanks for the useful tool, Funkyfr3sh. However though, after the conversion, if I want to edit them again with RAED, I have to rename the files again since the recent version of RAED cannot detect/read custom mission files used for Portable RA.

[Lightning Hunter]

I'm not sure if anyone is seeing my posts lately...

 

I've been using this program to convert missions, but I've come across an issue.  I am not sure if this problem is isolated or not, but there is a problem with at least one mission.  If you download this mission and run it through this program to convert, you will see that there are endless paratroopers and parabombs dropped at the very start of the mission in-game (which is obviously a bug).  I tried running the mission the default way, and this bug is not present.  Something happens in the conversion process that messes it up.  Maybe it has to do with rules.ini?

 

The problem here is that if this bug isn't tracked down, it is very possible other maps have the same problem - but I wouldn't realize it since I can't test every single mission.  If we can track down this bug, I can immediately go back and figure out which other missions might have the same issue.  Otherwise, people will play very bugged missions in my compilation, and that is not good.

 

Edit:  It definitely has to do with rules.ini, because if I remove it altogether the bug goes away.  Somehow, this program is messing up the rules when copying it over to the mission file.  I am not sure how.

 

Edit #2:  Well, I narrowed it down to this:

 

[Recharge]

ParaBomb=0              ; parachute bombs

Paratrooper=0          ; paratroopers

 

I don't know why, but when these two lines are in a rules.ini in the main Red Alert folder, they appear to have no effect.  However, when I use the mission converted and add these lines in to the mission file itself, the jets suddenly drop infinity bombs and troops...  I wonder why it behaves differently?

[Allen262]

[Recharge] is already in the rules. Adding the [Recharge] data you have added to the top will have no effect as the game will read [Recharge] data you added than read the stock [Recharge] later down the rules.ini and use it in game.