C&C: Cold War (V1.10 Beta)

[AchromicWhite]

Here it is for those who have been waiting to test it.

The first release (but certainly not the last), of C&C: Cold War.

(V1 beta)

 

(UPDATES:   If you've already downloaded the mod, and an update has been posted since, you can download JUST the rules update at the VERY bottom of this post (below the pictures) as a zip "ColdWarRulesUpdate.zip". This file is updated each time I re-release the mod with updated rules along with the main download.)

 

 

If you want to test, you'll need...

 

Mad Skills:

 

-Be able to set up your own CnCnet (to play against other opponents)

 

-Be able to play CnC online to a reasonable degree.

 

Insane Downloads:

 

-The mod itself (duh)

http://www.mediafire.com/file/0ataaa9acxjg401/ColdWarV1.10.rar

 

 

-Red Alert + The Aftermath.

You should know that the mod REPLACES files in your Red Alert folder, so either make a copy, or download a copy right here at CnC-Comm.

http://www.cnc-comm.com/community/index.php?action=downloads;cat=35

 

-To play against other people (which you'll have to do if you want to be a tester because the AI is not programed to know how to play Cold War), you will need CnCnet V2, made by the fantastic CnCNet team:

   Myg - programmer and founder

   Irony - programmer

   hifi - programmer and founder of CnCNet v2

   psde - former programmer

   Tore - Website manager, tester and tech support guy

   Nyerguds - Advice, testing and and adding CnCNet support into C&C95.

   N3tRunn3r - Tester

http://cncnet.cnc-comm.com/?page=downloads

 

-I would also recommend the High Resolution patch (Alpha, discontinued), made by hifi with the assistance of Hyper's database. Many units now have scarey long ranges.

http://hifi.iki.fi/ra95-hires/

 

 

 

 

 

I'd advise looking over the tech tree I've posted here and maybe playing a game against the computer on tech 3 where you'll get access to...

 

Rifle inf.

Anti-Tank Missile inf.

 

Jeeps/Hummers

Artillery

Transport Trucks

 

Guard Towers

Pillboxes

 

I say this because it'll help you to get used to doing 3 things

-Building and defending your base.

-Fighting in the Field.

-Besieging enemy bases.

 

 

You should always set your games up with shroud regrows ON and 0 units.

I'd say put speed 3 from the top. NOT top speed, and I'd advise not second to top (it might start the game slow... but it'll pick up).

 

You'll quickly find this is not CnC95/RA, your usual CnC game.

Have fun and post your feedback.

 

 

 

  -White

 

And remember kiddies, it's not finished yet. For example, NONE of the Icons for the buildings are done, but they all have makeshift stuff there for now (the names for them will still appear when you hover the mouse though). Technicians are still big, no engineers are yet trainable, no ships are in the game.

 

 

UPDATES:

If you've already downloaded the mod, and an update has been posted since, you can download JUST the rules update at the VERY bottom of this post (below the pictures) as a zip "ColdWarRulesUpdate.zip". This file is updated each time I re-release the mod with updated rules along with the main download.

 

4/Sept

 

Had Issues with the files. If you tried that game before the 4th, download it again. I've actually done heaps of work that wasn't showing in the last download.

Cheers guys, and post your feedback... if you don't speak, I don't know.

 

Another update today, AA missiles fixed, prices on tanks changed.

Make sure you get the new Rules.ini and Aftermath.ini at the bottom "ColdWarRulesUpdate.zip" I'll continue to say when new rules files are released.

 

Graphics fix on Anti Armour machine guns on planes, spy plane removed.

 

5/Sept

 

Gun on Humvee/Jeep fixed, (Hummer was killing Jeeps in 2 shots)

 

No more auto firing into the shroud.

Special Guard ranges have been given to units to stop long range auto fire.

Guard range=Sight range

Except for Artillery weapons that are all 1.

So short for vehicles longer for inf, but all weapons still have the same range

 

6/Sept

 

Machine gun added to T-80

 

7/Sept

Massive redo on how the units were dealing damage, helping to stop spread damage where it shouldn't be and giving the engine a bit of a rest while not changing the feel of game play too much.

 

The big damage that so many weapons did causing over the top spread damage has been mostly fixed now, but I'd still like feedback on it, and about the issues with specific units that you feel are getting over damaged when not being directly shot at.

 

 

Weapons against inf work much to how I was wanting them to now.

 

Helicopter small range increase.

 

Stinger range decreased a little, but fixed damage Vs planes.

 

Turrets now "heavy" armour, so have to be attacked with AP weapons.

 

Harvesters are now a little more stronger.

 

AP shots don't waste men in groups anymore. Don't ALWAYS destroy their target, but can with a good shot.

ColdWarRulesUpdate.rar

[AchromicWhite]

Hey, I havn't seen any testers just yet, but if you guys want to find other players, maybe try the CnCNet chat lobby, and put Cold War or something after your nick.

http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=cncnet

[pichorra]

Nice work.

 

As for the installation: I can do a custom RA launcher for you by messing arround RA95.DAT... or a switcher (just adapting my cncnet switcher for it) tomorrow... cya!

[AchromicWhite]

Awesome, thanks man.

[AchromicWhite]

Sorry, guys, had a minor issue with the download, should be fixed now.

If it's still not working, LET ME KNOW.

 

The game should be significantly changed. ALL units now have new icons, most things are renamed to something new, the tech tree is totally different, the weapons are WAAAAYYYY different!

 

So if something seems wrong, POST A COMMENT HERE.

 

I'm not a magical pixy, I'm asking for your assistance, thanks.

[pichorra]

Done : Cold War Switcher. Run it to Change from RA95 to Coldwar. Running it again will change from ColdWar to RA95.

 

Changes that need to be done in all files:

CONQ_CW.MIX - CONQUER.MIX
PAND2_CW.MIX - EXPAND2.MIX
PAND_CW.MIX - EXPAND.MIX
REDAL_CW.MIX - REDALERT.MIX
Aftr_CW.ini - Aftrmath.ini

 

files in attachments. Source code are there too. (written on c++, vcpp2010)

ColdWar_Switcher.zip

ColdWar_Switcher_src.rar

[AchromicWhite]

Sorry, Pichorra, it's gonna need Rules.ini as well. Which is just a copy of Aftermath.ini renamed to Rule.ini as well with the package.

It's in the zip.

[pichorra]

Updated. Still, Warn me if you need another file.

 

ColdWarSwitcher_12.rar

ColdWar_Switcher12_src.zip

[AchromicWhite]

I keep re-uploading the mod as I make progress with balance... so, I'm not sure how you want to deal with that, if you want to wait, or keep updating it, or make it auto update.

[Allen262]

I like the idea but there are more than a few things that bug me.

 

First delete evething in the aftermath.ini. It is not needed. The rules will do the same thing just fine how you have it. Going with a high Strength on every thing and Damage on every weapon is not good. RA1 has a hard time calculating how much damage a weapon should do and cost to repair a buiding. (May do the same with ship too) No building can have Strength=1000 or above reliability. If it is above this some buildings when repaired won't cost any thing. No weapon can shoot reliability more than Range=25, if grater it is likely that the weapon will explode after 2 squares.

 

Do to having high Damage on every weapon means that your own units will kill each other when there is a weapons hit even close to them.

 

SCUD having a nuke not good. Any thing that has Warhead=Nuke will use AtomDamage= key ; damage points when nuclear bomb explodes (regardless of source).

 

Prerequisite of hospital for many Infantry is strange.

 

Advanced Weapons Facility is next to useless. It has the Nuke symble on top and service depot still work better as it can repair more than one unit with out you having to babysit there and move each unit after it been fix so it will fix the next one.

[AchromicWhite]

Things don't do high damage, they're multiplied by the warhead damage in regards to armour.

I know of the range problem, and nothing has range over 25.

I didn't think I'd changed the building hp at all... Maybe there was a couple, but I'm pretty sure not over 1000... and the shots wont hit near each other anyway, because of increased range, creates a field in between the opponents.

 

The Scuds price may go way up, the whole idea was that it was somthing hte Russians had that's a walking super weapon, very scarey and a prime target to take out. I may nerf their speed more as well.... Yes, I've just found the AtomDamage variable, thanks for pointing that out.

 

I actually agree about the hospital a bit, but just think of it as a infantry tech with an added bonus as opposed to something to heal your men. As many people saw the repair pad in RA.

 

I've thought about this, I may do that, but I just don't like the rep pad in this game, it's a strange building. Oh, and I plan to remove the radiation symbol on top, but I haven't really started too much on the building pictures. Allot planned though, it will look great!

[Allen262]

7/Sept

Massive redo on how the units were dealing damage, helping to stop spread damage where it shouldn't be and giving the engine a bit of a rest while not changing the feel of game play too much.

 

I  told you about this…

 

Do to having high Damage on every weapon means that your own units will kill each other when there is a weapons hit even close to them.

 

"Splash damage" is hard to fix. Damage=80 will show noticeable damage to tanks and Damage=18 to infantry. This applies for stock tanks and infantry.

 

[AchromicWhite]

I know, that's why I changed it... thought you had a good point

 

It depends allot on the "spread" characteristic as well, under warheads.

[Allen262]

Dropping "spread" on AP to 0 makes all missles useless. Also cannons have a hard time hitting moving targets with 0 spread.

 

I've been making a AI friendly mod close to what you first layed out in text and have updated it after seeing the mod. I did stay away from high Strength on building and high Damage with weapons.

 

I set it up like this.

Ore values times 2

Vehicle and infantry Strength devided by 2

Vehicle,and buildings Cost times 2

Ships Strength times 3

All tank and anti-tankweapons Damage times 2

Ship weapons Damage times 3

Adjust all as needed

 

Sry had ships wrong...

[AchromicWhite]

Yeah, I had to put my AP spread onto 2 in order to get it to start dealing damage more like what I wanted, especially for missiles.

[Allen262]

I ended up using the super warhead for all missles. It is the same as AP but for spread that is 6. I pushed up the speed on all cannons by 10 and the same for man-packed anti-tank missiles. This helped with moving target some. Aircraft missiles have a harder time hitting moving targets than any cannon. There is no way to make the aircrafts more accurate.

[AchromicWhite]

From memeory I've also pushed up the speed of projectiles, it as needed due to the long ranges... missiles slowly making their way across 10 squares, lol...

I think my aircraft missiles are just really strong, but because aircraft are so expensive, I don't mind so much.

 

[Allen262]

Long ranges... That is pain in the ass with AI.

 

The AI still fires at you from long range even if they are given Guardrange=2 and Sight=2. The best I've been to do is set sight at 4 and all tank weapons around 5 (BMP, M2, Leopard and T-72) to 6 (T-80, M1 and Gun Turrent).

 

Infantry has been fine.

I couldn't have the Anti-Air in the E2 slot. I put it in the E4 spot and put the Nader back in E2. Things are fine. I got the Commando working fine. I set E7 up as the NATO Commando and SHOK as the Soviet Commando. I ripped the Boris icon and sounds from RA2 YR for the Soviet Commando. Now each side has there own Commando.

[AchromicWhite]

Yes, long range and no sight is only cool for PvP.

Those commandos sound pretty cool.

[Allen262]

I got the Guardrange= crap fixed. I must of not save the rules after I added it. After I re-added Guardrange= back to the tanks it work better. I can sneek by or up to tanks in guard mode. However with long range set if I fire on a tank it will fire back if I'm in its weapons range.

 

I'm attaching the NATO and Soviet Commandos I have below.

 

e7.shp goes to Hires.mix

e7icon.shp goes to Hires.mix

shok.shp goes to Hires1.mix

shokicon.shp goes to Hires1.mix

Sc-Voi gose into the RA1 folder with the other mixes. It has the voices for the Commandos.

 

Sounds are the one of a few things that can be replaced with out using the mix files from the Main.mix or REDALERT.mix. Any thing found in the following mix files can be place into  a SC******.mix. allies.mix ,general.mix, russian.mix, scores.mix, sounds.mix and speech.mix.

 

"*" indactes any letter can be place there.

 

SC much be the first two letters or the mix file will not be read by RA1. A SC******.mix can not be more than 8 letter long counting the first required SC. "SCmegahaxz.mix" is too long but "SCmahaxz.mix" is fine. Longer than 8 letters is know to cause crashes but not as often the Name= or Image= dose.

NATO_and_Soviet_Commandos.zip

[AchromicWhite]

Wait, the computer doesn't shoot unless you're within guard range? I didn't know that. I suppose that's only if the unit is in some sort of sleep mode though right?

 

Ha, I wasn't going to add the commandos due to the men being so weak, and building in C4 abilities into regular men to let men be a threat to buildings (I wasn't sure what else the commandos would actually do) but I guess they look cool... and if we DO make missions which several were keen on, they'd be a cool add in for those.

 

So, does this mix file just sit in the RA folder then?

[Allen262]

95% of the time in SP mission when any AI unit stops moving it goes in to Guard or Area Guard mode. It sits around and engage any enemy that wanders within weapon range/guard range. The default guard range is the same a weapon the unit or building has. GuardRange= you can make an unit guard a large area like the all of the Aircraft in stock RA1 or make it smaller than the weapon so you can sneek around it. The AI will retaliate with the units weapon range once it is fired on no matter if it has a Guard Range of 0

 

You mod is completely unsuitable for SP missions. Over powered units, long build times, weapons with vary long range render all the made maps useless. The way you have unit listed also don't help.  Even the RA Terrain is not suted to units having long range weapons. You tossed out every thing for balincing so I wouldn't even know were to start to even build an SP mission AI let alone a lage number of SP missions.

 

This is why I took my striped down Red Dawn I used to post ideas in your first thread and I'm up dating it in to full SP mod based round you idea and units. My infantry are week too however the Commandos are armed with sniper rifles to take care of other men and arent'as week as normal infantry plus my Rifle Infantry aren't packing C4. Commandos are costly so no one will be using them as "Zerg rush" unit like Rifle Infantry will be used if they have C4.

 

Yes the Sc-Voi.mix goes in to the RA folder.

 

[AchromicWhite]

Sweet, sounds like a cool mod, can't wait to see what you do with it.

Yes, I thought about your idea, but I wanted to see the sort of thing I was making become a reality also. I'm glad someones using the assets to make such a game.

 

You're totally right about the stock SP maps, there's no WAY I could make my mod work on those, but I do think it's possible to make SP mission for them. You'd probably be given a base, not make your own, and have allot of maps with just units (defend a pass, or assault a certain area, evacuate a village etc rather than the kill'em all mission of the usual CnC games).

[Allen262]

I think I got the helicopter set up into away that makes them still usefull. Helicopter are usefull for taking out units that have no or one AA gun around them were the SU and A-10 can out run the AA fire to hit tanks guarded by a SAM.

 

I been play some of my quick modded mission (Mostly Soviet 9) and it has turned out that the SUs and A-10s are better as a defense unit. SUs are better suited for picking off tank column as the roll up to the base than even 3 Gun Turs per side of base entrance are.

[AchromicWhite]

Yeah, it's a real pity we couldn't give them a secondary LGB weapon. That way they could do both... this is the same sort of reason I wanted to build a bomber. (mig/F16)