[C&C1] Setting up XCC Editor (for making maps)

[Jacko]

When I loaded it up in winter type I got a bunch of weird cliffs and textures appearing, but when I tried to make it in desert XCC just straight-up crashed on start.

[Grove4life5]

Right... I noticed a lot of people were still stuck using CCMap... which is not only limited by C&C's old 16K ini size limitation (which is raised to 50k by C&C95), but is also missing a few tiles in the Desert terrain.

 

Here's the most reliable way to set up XCC Editor:

 

-If you don't have it already, download & install the XCC Utilities pack from http://xhp.xwis.net (go to the "Utilities" section in the sidebar)

-Add these files in the XCC folder. They contain the terrain graphics, but modified to make the Blossom Trees identifiable on the map.

-Copy conquer.mix from your C&C folder to the XCC folder.

-Start XCC Mixer, go to View -> Directories, set the "TD Primary" folder to the XCC folder, and the "TD Secondary" to your real C&C folder (it also tries to read general.mix for some reason, though I don't see why)

 

Then, open any map by right clicking on the ini file in Windows Explorer, selecting Open With, and pointing it to "XCC Editor.exe" in the XCC folder (Make sure you have the right one. NOT "XCC Mixer" or "XCC Mix Editor"!)

 

Oh, you may notice you can't edit stuff immediately after opening a map in XCC Editor... this is simply because it locks the terrain-related layers on startup. This is easily fixed though. Simply click on the map itself, hold down the [CTRL] key and tap [F1], [F2], [F3] and then [F4]. This will unlock all of the locked layers (respectively Template, Overlay, Smudge and Terrain)

 

Have fun

 

 

NOTE ON SNOW MAPS:

To make previews of Snow maps, download this file and unzip it in a DIFFERENT FOLDER than where XCC Editor or C&C are. This is a temperat.mix file which has the Snow graphics in it. This has the effect that any Temperate maps opened from the folder this file is in will be shown in Snow.

 

 

NOTE ON MISSION EDITING:

Note that while this editor is ideal for making maps, it's not good for making or editing missions. It completely rewrites the ini file on every save, and saves all text in the ini file in upper case, screwing up briefing text and mission names (not a problem for multiplayer maps since their name is displayed in caps in the game anyway).

 

Oh god... h... hey there, I just want to try stuff out and make simple levels with the map editor and followed every step you put here, but at the last moment when I try to open a map or the editor I get "Unable to open all mix files, instert a C&C CD or see readme.txt for details"

 

I don't know what to do... please reply!

 

BTW you're a GOD for making it possible to let us play old C&C's again!!!

[Nyerguds]

ummm.... I didn't know XCC had such a message. Are you sure you're talking about this editor, and not ccmap?

[MattAttack]

I think I got a similar message before.  Although I believe you can set the directory where they're located in ccmixer, I just put the general.mix, conquer.mix, temperate.mix, desert.mix, winter.mix and snow.mix directly in the XCC program folder.

[Grove4life5]

I think I got a similar message before.  Although I believe you can set the directory where they're located in ccmixer, I just put the general.mix, conquer.mix, temperate.mix, desert.mix, winter.mix and snow.mix directly in the XCC program folder.

 

I belive they are and also that Nyerguds told us to do that on the tutorial, do you know anything else? I can send screenshots and stuff about everything you want...almost...

[Nyerguds]

Did you set the folder as TD folder in the "Directories" in XCC Mixer? This needs to be configured in a different program than the editor itself...

[Grove4life5]

Did you set the folder as TD folder in the "Directories" in XCC Mixer? This needs to be configured in a different program than the editor itself...

 

Belive I did, but I'm too dumb to understand the second thing you said, I may have done something wrong, but on the other side it's always ME having those unsolvable issues wich other never had, now I'm seeing too that the TD fields are empty again every time to go tot he XCC mixer again, not sure if that's normal too, maybe I just need some more details or something... this is so fucking fustrating :ranting:

[Grove4life5]

Eh, here's what happens with a screenshot, nothing more I can do.

[MattAttack]

I think you might need snow.mix (from Nyer's version of c&c) and General.mix in that directory as well

[Grove4life5]

I think you might need snow.mix (from Nyer's version of c&c) and General.mix in that directory as well

 

I put all MIX files plus the "map" I made in the ulities folder so they are all in the same folder, now I don't get the error message anymore, but just nothing happens when I try to open something.

[Grove4life5]

Is anyone still alive? I'm out of options here.

[Messiah]

Use CCWMAP instead.

[MattAttack]

Use CCWMAP instead.

 

Lol, I hate ccwmap, but I'm starting to agree with that solution.  One last thing to try is to change the directory in xcc-mixer.  Here's a picture to describe (naturally, change the TD directory to whatever YOUR directory is)  Hmmmm "data" may also be where your .mix files are supposed to be.

 

[Grove4life5]

Use CCWMAP instead.

 

Lol, I hate ccwmap, but I'm starting to agree with that solution.  One last thing to try is to change the directory in xcc-mixer.  Here's a picture to describe (naturally, change the TD directory to whatever YOUR directory is)  Hmmmm "data" may also be where your .mix files are supposed to be.

 

 

Friend... I did that dozens of times and it DOESN'T WORK, it's not me doing something wrong, it's not you doing something wrong, it's not god (Nyerguds in this case) doing something wrong, it's MY PC doing ALOT of things wrong.

I normally don't give up, but there is no choise to it so I'll just play the fucking game and forget it.

 

 

 

 

Fuck it.

[Nyerguds]

Did you start XCC Mixer as administrator? Otherwise it won't have the rights to write this stuff in the registry.

 

It's an old app, y'know, from before the times of rigid user right separation.

[Grove4life5]

Did you start XCC Mixer as administrator? Otherwise it won't have the rights to write this stuff in the registry.

 

It's an old app, y'know, from before the times of rigid user right separation.

 

Hmmm... we're getting somewhere... I can open XCC editor, made a small map with stuff but can't open the map itself (nothing happens) and I DID open it with XCC editor, but ain't that the same as opening the XCC editor and then selecting the file (wich DOES work now)?

I just want to "play" the map I just made, how do I do that?

[Nyerguds]

Hmmm... we're getting somewhere... I can open XCC editor, made a small map with stuff but can't open the map itself (nothing happens) and I DID open it with XCC editor, but ain't that the same as opening the XCC editor and then selecting the file (wich DOES work now)?

Yeah, I know XCC Editor has problems with the "open with" thing. Not sure what's up with that. Just open XCC Editor and drag-and-drop the ini file into it; it's the quickest way

 

I just want to "play" the map I just made, how do I do that?

Heh. Making terrain is one thing. Are you looking to make a multiplayer map or a mission, though?

 

For a mission, there's a whole lot more to do in terms of scripting and such before you have something functional. This guide also includes the way to make the mission playable; it's simply a filename format (SCX##EA.INI/.BIN) that makes them valid as mission files for the game. Once it is in the correct filename format, any mission with a number over 20 will be shown in the New Missions menu, though it might be better to start around 50, since the actual Covert Operations already take up those first ones in the 20-40 range.

 

If it's a multiplayer map, though, just check out the Waypoints in XCC Editor. Put down the waypoints starting from 0 as multiplayer starting positions. You can use the range of 0-11, though 6 is the maximum amount of players, so normally you shouldn't need anything more than 0-5. The starting points are normally randomly taken from the available ones. The fixes I put in the game should make sure that a map with only 2 waypoints can only be played with 2 players, though I'm not 100% sure if the cncnet people implemented that in exactly the same way I did.

 

As for how to put it in cncnet, not a clue, honestly. But for missions it's explained in the mission making manual, and for multiplayer maps in the game's own LAN or 'skirmish' mode (without cncnet) it's the same as single player missions, only with "m" as team ID in the filename instead of "g" or "b".

[Grove4life5]

Lol, making an entire mission is way to advanced for me, I thought I could like just "open" my map (I just placed some units and stuff I don't know in there so I could test and see those for myself)

So... Sorry for wasting your time.

[Nyerguds]

Well, you can't "just" open a mission until you at least set a position where you should start your mission, as in, the actual spot on the map you're looking at at mission start (for single player missions this is determined by waypoint 26), and a house (GDI/Nod) to start your mission with. Also note that nothing in a map will be revealed if there are only structures on the map (to allow "find your base" style missions) so a player-owned base in a mission should have at least one unit with sight radius in it (so not just civilians or Dr. Moebius or something).

 

For the rest... a mission is "valid" (as in, fully playable; it's perfectly possible to start "invalid" missions) from the moment you have a Win and Lose trigger, which really isn't hard to copy from an existing mission's ini file. But if you want the AI to actually do anything you'll need to script its attacks, too, and that can be quite some work.

[Grove4life5]

Well, you can't "just" open a mission until you at least set a position where you should start your mission, as in, the actual spot on the map you're looking at at mission start (for single player missions this is determined by waypoint 26), and a house (GDI/Nod) to start your mission with. Also note that nothing in a map will be revealed if there are only structures on the map (to allow "find your base" style missions) so a player-owned base in a mission should have at least one unit with sight radius in it (so not just civilians or Dr. Moebius or something).

 

For the rest... a mission is "valid" (as in, fully playable; it's perfectly possible to start "invalid" missions) from the moment you have a Win and Lose trigger, which really isn't hard to copy from an existing mission's ini file. But if you want the AI to actually do anything you'll need to script its attacks, too, and that can be quite some work.

 

How do I set waypoint? And how do I select what building to start a mission with? Should my map just appear in the new missions tab?

[Nyerguds]

Uhh... look through the editor's possibilities? It has the ability to place down waypoints, buildings, units etc on the map.

 

And yes, any map with the correct filename (for example, scb60ea.ini + scb60ea.bin) will show up in the New Missions list. If you put it in the actual game folder, that is, of course.

[Grove4life5]

any map with the correct filename (for example, scb60ea.ini + scb60ea.bin) will show up in the New Missions list.

 

Hell that's all I needed to know!@@!@!@!@!@!! it works now - thanks for you time and the amazing ammount of patience!

[Grove4life5]

I won't take anymore of your time, you're an awsome guy

[Ammo1337]

Good afternoon sirs.

 

I have just started making a few maps (some large ones with A LOT on there just for fun, practising with triggers etc). I appear to have hit my first snag while using XCC. I have several factions involved in a map I am making and it appears that I have hit some kind of upper limit or a bug, where several buildings end up being aligned to GDI even after I changed them and save them, or indeed if I delete some and re-add them as the correct team. Not only that, but any associated triggers on the buildings get deleted. I have deleted units and other structures off the map to no avail. It appears to not like the last several buildings that I have put on the map.

 

I thought I had reached a maximum size of the document or so but it is 20k. I have around 80 buildings under [base] and 100 ish under [structures] in my map's .ini

 

Any thoughts?

 

Also, just as a quick side question but I don't suppose anybody has figured out how to have a reinforced MCV deploy?

 

Thanks for any help 

[Chimas]

Provide BIN+INI before and after XCC use ...

 

Also, just as a quick side question but I don't suppose anybody has figured out how to have a reinforced MCV deploy?

 

Author: Lin Kuei Ominae

Former TiberiumWeb.com Community Forums - Aug 2 2009

 

 

1. The moving and then deploying MCV

It was widely assumed that an MCV can't be deployed on a certain cell by using triggers.

This is how it works anyway.

 

CODE

 

[uNITS]

000=GoodGuy,MCV,256,1596,0,Rescue,MCVD

;note the Rescue action and the connection to the MCVD Trigger

 

 

[TeamTypes]

mcvt=GoodGuy,0,0,0,0,0,15,0,0,0,1,MCV:1,6,Move:5,Move:6,Move:7,Move:8,Move:9,Rescue:0,0,0

;The MCV moves along the waypoints 5,6,7,8,9 and then deploys at the last waypoint 9

 

 

[Triggers]

MCVD=Time,Create Team,0,GoodGuy,mcvt,0

 

Though i admit it has some drawbacks and special conditions

1. The MCV has to be placed on the map and can't be send via reinforcements.

2. The place where the MCV is placed on the map must be big enough for the MCV to deploy there too (you should test this first using no trigger)

3. The MCV needs Rescue (or Unload) as it's action

4. The TeamType needs Rescue (or Unload if Unload is on the MCV) as the last action on the waypoint list

5. The Trigger has to start instantly (hence Time 0) or the MCV deploys on it's start position

But you can add many waypoints to its path to give it a delay before it deploys on its final destination

 

The main advantage is, that you can this way make an AI player (in a singleplayer map) which has to build its base from scratch just like the human player in almost every other mission.