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FullRA+ with the TLF extra movies


Sonarpulse

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EDIT:Sonarpulse's Optimized *.mixs v1 (Latest)

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So I have all four original CD's, downloaded and installed fullRA+ plus, and then extracted all the sub mixes out of the 4 main.mixes, and then meticulously combined them to save space. All worked so far. [in case anyone cares I found two cases were a movie was changed from the original game, bmap and spy1]

 

Then I also tried to add in the The Lost Files' extra movies. They are stored in mixes which evidently only the TLF executable reads. Problem is that the no-cd hack, which is the whole point of combining the main.mixes, only works with the main executable (I think because TLF has it's own .dat file, which presumably calls the other mixes, and the main .dat is where the no-cd hack is.)

 

So the solution should have been simple enough, put the TLF stuff in some mix the game already reads, like expand2.mix, or forgo making the TLF movies an option, and replace the original files with them. Except even after resorting to the latter and replacing the original scenario .ini's, and putting the movies in Movies1.mix, the movies still won't load!? Anyone know what's going on?

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I think the TLF videos will work if you create and add them into a mix using the sc prefix like: sctlf.mix.

 

However as far as I can remember the FullRA executable ignores movies.mix...try using a normal 3.03 executable (ra95.exe and ra95.dat) and patch it with hifi's NoCD patch.

 

But I'm a bit unsure about his. Nyerguds would be able to come up with a better answer.

 

Moved to the construction yard

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RA can only play videos that are in its internal videos list. Since I edited that list in the exe, no other exe besides the TLF one will show these videos. There is a First Decade executable included in the pack; that one is no-cd.

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@tore the internal video list is definitely the problem as the exe does load movies#.mix's as the intro movie plays. Is the other no-cd the one that comes with the red alert install manager or a third one. And about the mix filenames, what's the deal with the "sc" prefix and the way the game handles the filenames in general. Once I get red alert working I might do the same with TD so it's good to know.

 

@ nyerguds great! is there any other differences with the TLF executable worth knowing about? And about those .dats, what are they doing. Looking at the TLF executable it would seem that their the bulk of the game and the TLF is just some booted thinggy, but I've seen mods where their used as mixes.

 

And one last question, anyway to put file descriptions, like the movie titles, into custom mixes?

 

I Can't try out first decade executable now but if everything works I'll upload or torrent the completed mix's

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The .dat is the actual game exe file. The only difference in the TLF one is that modified videos list.

 

The TFD version of the TLF exe applies a no-cd patch to the .dat before starting it. The non-TFD one makes sure any no-cd is undone when starting it. That's all.

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Sweet, I noticed that with raTLF.dat, the original campaign movies do not play, is this because whoever made raTLF.dat replaced some movie names? I guess that would ruin any chance of using just one executable. Otherwise everything seems to work fine. Here's a list (I think complete) of my .mix work:

 

01/25/1999  02:52 PM           211,145 wolapi.mix            > Untouched
01/13/2004  04:52 PM                 0 redalert.MIX          > Empty file, RA+ had this so I figured they were important
01/13/2004  04:52 PM                 0 main.MIX              > Empty file, if main.mix needs when then redalert.mix too i guess
08/28/2009  11:38 AM             1,958 SCRTRFIX.mix          > Untouched, I guess I could put these files in snow.mix
01/09/2010  10:56 AM         2,177,047 conquer.MIX           > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM            54,335 edhi.MIX              > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM             8,230 edlo.MIX              > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM           247,425 interior.MIX          > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM         1,030,861 snow.MIX              > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM           266,077 russian.MIX           > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM           309,406 allies.MIX            > Untouched
01/09/2010  10:56 AM         1,038,859 temperat.MIX          > Untouched
07/07/2010  11:42 AM         1,376,627 sounds.mix            > Untouched? (maybe I overwrote it with fullra+'s, hence the date)
07/13/2010  12:07 AM       115,926,134 scores.MIX            > Combined the songs a while back, there might have been some differing versions.
07/13/2010  10:48 PM        17,973,510 general.mix           > Added the off map destroyer from the stuck-above subs fix in scu44ea.ini, and aftermath tutorial.ini
05/03/2011  11:23 PM           684,567 TLF-miss.mix          > All 4 movies.mixes combined (no TLF versions) also includes sub fix
05/04/2011  07:57 AM           650,448 editor.mix            > Untouched
05/04/2011  07:57 AM         3,829,837 local.mix             > Untouched
05/04/2011  07:57 AM        11,990,198 nchires.mix           > Untouched
05/04/2011  07:57 AM         2,003,464 speech.mix            > Untouched
05/04/2011  04:55 PM         5,909,668 hires.mix             > combined with original hires1 for expansion units.
07/13/2010  10:30 PM           440,107 HIRES1.MIX            > Just The small DOS infantry
05/04/2011  04:55 PM           813,615 lores.mix             > combined with lores1 for expansion units.  
05/04/2011  05:03 PM       184,246,411 TLF-movs.mix          > compacted it in XCC mix editor, hence the date, didn't improve file size though
05/04/2011  07:03 PM       687,835,430 movies1.MIX           > All 4 movies.mixes combined, bmap and spy are both censored in at least one of the expansions. bmap-no chanting, spy-no choking noises
05/03/2011  07:02 AM         6,502,561 MOVIES2.mix.alternate > bmap and spy, Censored Versions
05/04/2011  11:09 PM           586,581 expand.mix            > expand.mix + expand2.mix where theres no conflict
05/04/2011  11:10 PM            18,248 expand2.mix           > aftermath tutorial.ini and conquer.eng, I guess they're backwards comparable but something told me keep 2 expand.mix's for the disable aftermath tool
              28 File(s)  1,046,132,749 bytes

Lastly, bmap.vqp. I've got three versions, one from the TLF .rar, one from expand1.mix, and one from nchires.mix. I figure the pallet problem had to do with the two versions of the movie, but all three pallets are different. I'm thinking once i figure out which one works for each version I'll put it in the corresponding movies.mix so they don't get seperated

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The vqp files are used to generate the in-between pixels when stretching the videos from the original DOS RA 320x200 to RA95's 640x400. There was some problem with the original, yes, so I generated a new one. Gordan Ugarkovic (who made the VQP encoder) gave me a tool that can do that.

 

And yes, I replaced the campaign videos by the TLF ones. If I remember correctly, the readme file specifically says that too.

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The vqp files are used to generate the in-between pixels when stretching the videos from the original DOS RA 320x200 to RA95's 640x400. There was some problem with the original, yes, so I generated a new one. Gordan Ugarkovic (who made the VQP encoder) gave me a tool that can do that.

 

Ok, I found that the original nchires.mix pallet fails all around, the expand.mix bmap pallet only works for the censored version, and your bmap pallet from TLF works for the original uncensored version.

 

And yes, I replaced the campaign videos by the TLF ones. If I remember correctly, the readme file specifically says that too.

just read it, and it's there. Guess i should read more readmes.

 

 

This just leaves 3 more long term questions and then I'll have a release:

  • Most fundamentally, is it be better practice to generally leave things where they are, meaning less modified mixes but the occasional redundant file, or radically re-arrange stuff, only keeping redundant files backwards compatibility. I guess an example of this would be whether or not to merge everything in the expand.mix's. You, Nyerguds, seem to be the preeminent developer/modder on TD/ra1, and if you ever get around redoing ra1 like TD 1.06 I would love for this to help, so it's kinda a question of what you would prefer.
  • how can one add individual file descriptions within the mixes, like in the original mixes? It would be nice to not make things more confusing for others, and I'd feel a lot better about rearranging stuff if I could leave notes in the mixes.
  • How does the the aftermath enabler work? I figure this is a good way to test backwards compatibility if I go around rearranging stuff
    EDIT: was poking and the forums and I think you said it just changes the registry
  • is there any reason not to incorporate SCRTRFIX.mix into snow.mix?
  • looking at the .rar of your 3.03 patch a lot more .mix's are changed than i thought, i'm guessing cause text on sprites. I guess I'll have to check that out

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  • 2 months later...

Sonarpulse's Optimized *.mixs v1

Magnet Link (torrent)·Megaupload

Well I finally got myself a release. Didn't abandon this after all. I'll Just kinda answer my own questions to get the ball rolling again I guess.

  • Most fundamentally, is it be better practice to generally leave things where they are, meaning less modified mixes but the occasional redundant file, or radically re-arrange stuff, only keeping redundant files backwards compatibility. I guess an example of this would be whether or not to merge everything in the expand.mix's. You, Nyerguds, seem to be the preeminent developer/modder on TD/ra1, and if you ever get around redoing ra1 like TD 1.06 I would love for this to help, so it's kinda a question of what you would prefer.
  • how can one add individual file descriptions within the mixes, like in the original mixes? It would be nice to not make things more confusing for others, and I'd feel a lot better about rearranging stuff if I could leave notes in the mixes.
  • How does the the aftermath enabler work? I figure this is a good way to test backwards compatibility if I go around rearranging stuff
    EDIT: was poking and the forums and I think you said it just changes the registry
  • is there any reason not to incorporate SCRTRFIX.mix into snow.mix?
  • looking at the .rar of your 3.03 patch a lot more .mix's are changed than i thought, i'm guessing cause text on sprites. I guess I'll have to check that out

  • Based on my rationals below, I decided to radically re-arrange stuff into less *.mixs.
  • I'll still don't know, but seeing that only modders/developers need worry and they probably have their own RA directory setup and backups, I'll ignore it for now.
  • Like I said, I read it just changed registry stuff. This convinced me chucking the expand#.mixs would be OK.
  • Couldn't think of a reason so I went ahead and did it.
  • The 3.03 patch has lots of stuff separated so it works with the different versions of RA. I only have english, this is an english patch, so I have chosen to radically use less *.mixs.

 

====Changes====

Here's a pretty comprehensive list of what I have done:

/-------------Windows DIR output--------------\ /-----------------------------------My changes----------------------------------\ /---------------------Original use of the *.mixs----------------------\
01/25/1999      211,145 wolapi.mix            > Untouched                                                                       > Orginial westwood  online componets
01/13/2004            0 redalert.MIX          > Empty file, RA+ had this so I figured it is useful                              > Used to hold all the original game direcotry *.mixs
01/13/2004            0 main.MIX              > Empty file, if main.mix needs one then redalert.mix does too, I guess           > Used to hold all the CD *.mixs
01/09/2010        8,230 edlo.MIX              > Untouched, along with the other editor files                                    > Dos Editor files
01/09/2010       54,335 edhi.MIX              > Untouched, along with the other editor files                                    > Windows Editor files
01/09/2010      247,425 interior.MIX          > Untouched                                                                       > Interior terrain tiles
01/09/2010      309,406 allies.MIX            > Untouched                                                                       > Generic Allies' unit voices
01/09/2010      266,077 russian.MIX           > Untouched                                                                       > Generic Soviet unit voices
07/13/2010  115,926,134 scores.MIX            > Combined the songs a while back, there might have been some differing versions. > Frank Klepaki's soundtrack
07/13/2010      440,107 HIRES1.MIX            > Before it also had a bunch of files unchanged from the original hires*.mixs     > Optional small DOS infantry for the windows version.
05/03/2011      684,567 TLF-miss.mix          > Updated to included the "Mission Critical" (scu44ea.ini) sub fix.               > The Lost Files mission *.inis
05/04/2011      650,448 editor.mix            > Untouched, along with the other editor files                                    > Shared editor files
05/04/2011    2,003,464 speech.mix            > Untouched                                                                       > Eva speach audio files
05/04/2011      813,615 lores.mix             > combined with lores1 for expansion units.                                       > Dos version purchase icons and infantry
05/04/2011  184,246,411 TLF-movs.mix          > compacted it in XCC mix editor, hence the date, otherwised untouched            > Movies from the ported consol versions of RA
05/04/2011  687,835,430 movies1.MIX           > All the movies are in here but the censored versions of bmap.vqa and spy.vqa    > Allied Disk, Conterstrike, and Aftermath Cinematics
07/09/2011    4,091,249 MOVIES2.mix.alternate > Censored versions of bmap.vqa and spy.vqa along with proper pallet for bmap.vqa > Soviet Disk Cinematics
07/09/2011    9,491,164 nchires.mix           > Pallet files for movies, with fixed pallet for bmap.vqa from the TLF pack.      > All the movie pallet files
07/09/2011    5,891,252 hires.mix             > combined with Hires1 for expansion units, and Compressed                        > Windows purchase icons and infantry
07/09/2011    1,048,850 temperat.MIX          > Ant hill tile from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added                              > Temperate terrain tiles
07/10/2011    2,342,874 conquer.MIX           > Files from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added                                      > All the images shared between all terrain types, dos, and windows
07/10/2011    1,492,549 sounds.mix            > Audio from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added                                      > The rest of the audio (not allied or soviet generic voices)
07/10/2011   17,953,926 general.mix           > Combined from 4 CDs, Files from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added                 > Mission *.inis, strings, and Windows screenies
07/10/2011    1,033,991 snow.MIX              > SCRTRFIX.mix snow pallet fixes added                                            > Snow terrain tiles
07/10/2011    3,848,646 local.mix             > Files from expand1.mix & expand2.mix added                                      > Random shit: rules.ini and similar, credits, title screen.
\---------------------------------------------/ \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------/ \---------------------------------------------------------------------/

====Installation====

Just unrar the *.mixes to you're red alert directory. Anything not overwritten is propably redundant (unless you installed some other mod). Either way, back up your old *.mixs if you're at all worried, or would be pissed if stuff stopped working. This shouldn't mess anything up, but... <insert disclaimer here>.

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Personally I'd just arrange it just like the original game has it, but with main.mix in your game folder. It's what TFD does. The only special thing that needs to be taken into account then is that all videos have to go into movies1.mix, and you don't need a movies2.mix

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Well in a way it's like the original game—original as in pre expansion red alert. Besides the movies the game has lots of redundant versions of things like conquers.eng and tutorial.ini, thetitle screen, etc. Movies2.mix is optional, remember, as the uncensored versionsof those clips are in movies1.mix. I guess I could put stuff back main.mix and redalert.mix.

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Redalert.mix is separate from main.mix. They cannot be combined together.

 

Is the fullRA+ plus a mix editor that works in DOS? If not, there's no way the movies work in RA1 and the expansions. Only a mix editor DOS program is able to do this correctly. Back then, I did add in and combine RA1 Allied and Soviet movies with the Aftermath main.mix together and it worked ingame. I did not combine in Counterstrike files since I don't own Counterstrike.

 

 

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Of course it's separate. But in your setup it's EMPTY. You can just as well put all original files back in there.

 

As for a good mix editor, just use XCC Mix Editor. NOT "XCC Mixer". It's a different tool included in the pack. Though if you use it to make new mix-files, make sure that you set the mixfile type to RA1 BEFORE dropping files into it. And always use the "compact" function to save.

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Ah, the empty redalert.mix is a copy of the empty main.mix which came with either fullRA+ or RAED (forget which). Kept both empty *.MIXs in case they were needed to fool some tool or something. All the sub *.MIXs but the ones I have "deprecated" (expand1.mix, expand2.mix, original hires1.mix, lores1.mix) have been moved to the main directory. All the files in the "deprecated" *.MIXs are now in other corresponding *.MIXs.

 

Also I'll chime in and say I have been using exactly Nyerguds recommended procedure to edit *.MIXs. XCC mix editor is kinda finicky about editing mixes, won't compact them, and won't let you encrypt them (which doesn't so much make them more secure as make them look more orthodox to red alert and other tools)

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XCC mix editor is kinda finicky about editing mixes, won't compact them, and won't let you encrypt them

Eh? You mean XCC Mixer, right? XCC Mix Editor can do all of that.

 

And yeah, I know RAED can't read unencrypted mixfiles.

 

btw, XCC Mixer can also compact, by right-clicking on the mixfile before you open it. It's one of the lowest options in the list.

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1. Ahahaha yes I did mean XCC mixer, guess I tried to make things more clear and ended up doing the opposite.

2. Good to know. If I remember correctly vqa2avi will load the mixes but not the file names from unencrypted ones too.

3. Also good to know. Funny that the XCC guy made both programs separate in the first place.

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well, one is a file browser, the other an editor. It kinda makes sense. I find it stranger that he added some editing features in the Mixer but not all of them. If he had added no editing features in XCC Mixer, everyone would very quickly know that XCC Mix Editor was there. If he added them all in XCC Mixer, XCC Mix Editor wouldn't be needed. But now you just have people not knowing of Mix Editor, and being stuck with the crippled editing functions in XCC Mixer :(

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