File: C&CMAKER.TXT 9-21-96 How to Create Your Own Command & Conquer Mission v1.8 Jonathan Chen (MastrMind3@aol.com) Note: Before I get sued, a LOT of the information within this manual and the basic format of this manual has been taken from an original manual written by Han Brunger (j.brunger@a1.nl) who deserves a lot of credit for making the original. This manual should be all you need short of some experience to make some good C&C missions. What separates this from Han Brunger's original is that this document contains an enormous amount of more information (50k) that has been discovered since his original writing (20k). You may freely, and I encourage, you to distribute this document as you please, so long as credit is given to me. Version List v1.0 Original Release v1.1 Mainly just grammatical corrections. v1.5 More grammatical corrections. Addition of "Attack Units" to actions list. Discovery and addition of "FPLS" overlay tile. Update to the Making Multiplayer Maps section. Discovery of placing buildings in the [Overlay] section. Chart listing buildings in DESERT theater. Orcas and Apaches in [TeamTypes]. More examples of more confusing actions. Minor additions to Terrain and Celltriggers section. Addition of a "Where to send mission for posting" section. More "Thanks to..." v1.6 Additions and corrections to Movie List. Correction to an example. v1.8 More Grammatical corrections. Additions to Movie List. Addition of "Sleep" to actions list. Note that player has dino logo when playing as Special house. A10 and C17 added to units section. Note of priority index in [Base] section. More detailed info on how to use the looping bit at the end of a trigger line. Briefing alternative method with MISSION.INI file. Detailed tips on how to get Hovercrafts to work under the Examples section. Info on steel crates and Nukes. ***************** Table of Contents ***************** 1. Getting Started 2. Text Editing the INI file 2.1 [Basic] 2.1.1 Movie Titles and descriptions 2.1.2 Theme names 2.2 [Map] 2.3 [GoodGuy], [BadGuy], [Neutral], [Special], [Multi1-6] 2.4 [Terrain] 2.5 [Overlay] 2.5.1 Crates 2.6 [Smudge] 2.7 [Waypoints] 2.8 [Structures] 2.8.1 Structure Type chart 2.8.2 Civilian Structures that CCMAP v2.1 Doesn't Handle 2.9 [Units] 2.9.1 Unit Type chart 2.10 [Infantry] 2.11 [CellTriggers] 2.12 [Triggers] 2.13 [TeamTypes] 2.14 [Base] 2.15 [Briefing] 3. Examples 4. Making Multiplayer Maps 5. Making your mission playable 5.1 GENERAL.MIX on Hard Drive technique 5.2 NEW MISSIONS technique 6. Where to Send Your Completed Mission 7. Closing Comments 8. Thanks to... ****************** 1. Getting Started ****************** Before anything else, I will assume that you have MIXMAN and CCMAP which you will need. Once you have these programs, read the MIXMAN documentation to learn how to extract an INI file and a MAP file from a GENERAL.MIX file from either Command & Conquer CD. The next step is to edit the INI file with any standard ASCII text editor such as DOS EDIT or WINDOWS NOTEPAD to decide how large and what type of map you will use (refer to section 2.2 MAP for more information). Once you have done this, you may use CCMAP to create your map anyway you like. Finally comes the real hard part, the ever daunting task of editing the INI file which you will need this manual for desperately. **************************** 2. Text Editing the INI File **************************** The INI file is a standard ASCII text file which contains several sections headers within [ and ]. All of these sections describe what can be found on the map, and what will occur during the mission when it is played. Within the INI file, you may also note that you may include comments by preceding them with a semi-colon, ";". I will now go through the several sections and attempt to explain them fully for you to understand. *********** 2.1 [Basic] *********** As you might guess, this describes the basics of the mission. Usually you won't have to change much here. This is what it'll probably look like. Note: Numbers in brackets, { }, are not a part of the section. [Basic] CarryOverMoney=10 {1} CarryOverCap=-1 {2} Percent=100 {3} Intro=X {4} Brief=X {5} Action=X {6} Lose=X {7} Win=X {8} BuildLevel=13 {9} Theme=No theme {10} Player=GoodGuy {11} Name=Beta Mission {12} 1: Amount of credits that the player will carry over from the previous mission divided by 100. For example, 10 means 1000 credits. 2: Most likely is a cap over how much money you can carry over. That is, a limit as to how much money you get from your last mission to prevent you from starting with too much money. 3: Wish I knew. Possibly also related to CarryOverMoney, by specifying what percentage of the money you get? (If you make a mission that isn't part of a continuing campaign, then the above three values will have no effect and you probably should delete them.) 4: Introduction video played first. 5: Briefing Video, played after Introduction Video. 6: Action Video, played after Briefing Video. 7: Lose Video, played if you lose the mission. 8: Win Video, played if you win the mission. (The known videos that you can use are listed below in section 2.1.1. If you put an "X" then no movie clip will be played.) 9: Similar to Tech Level. Specifies how much you can build. Note, if you play your mission by replacing one in the GENERAL.MIX file (described in section 5.1), this will have no effect. 10: Music that will be played when the mission opens. Will begin at the same time that the ACTION video begins. A list of known themes can be found below in section 2.1.2. To not play any particular music, then put "No theme" in the entry. 11: Who the player will represent. GoodGuy (GDI), BadGuy (Nod), Neutral, Special, Multi1, Multi2, ... , Multi6. 12: This is the name of the mission which will show up on the NEW MISSIONS menu (described in section 5.2). Note: You will not find this entry in any mission you extract with MIXMAN, so you will have to add it yourself. ********************************* 2.1.1 Movie Titles and Description ********************************* On the lines, Intro, Brief, Action, Lose, and Win, you may put the name of a video clip which will play at a specified time. Note: If you use the NEW MISSIONS technique (described in section 5.2) the Intro video will not be played. Most videos are actually usually only on either the GDI or Nod CD. Below, is a list discovered by someone else, of all the cutscenes with some additions and corrections that I discovered. CD Name Description **************************************************************************** N AIRSTRK Soldiers watching airstrike in hills. N AKIRA Nod base attacked by GDI and destroyed by ion blast. G N BANNER GDI troops hanging banner on greek temple. G N BCANYON Orca chopper flying through canyon. G BKGROUND Information about GDI and Nod presence on world map. G N BOMBAWAY A10 planes bombing a base in a valley. G N BOMBFLEE Command center being bombed by A10 planes. G BURDET1 Burdette reporting about destruction of village. G BURDET2 Short Burdette report. G N CC2TEASE C&C2 demo video. G N CONSYARD MCV changing into a construction yard. N DESFLEES GDI soldiers running away from Nod tanks in desert. N DESKILL GDI soldier kills Nod soldier in desert. G DESOLAT Desolated village overgrown with tiberium. N DESSWEEP Nod vehicles moving through desert. G N DINO Hovercraft moving through a swamp area with dino's. G N FLAG APC enters Nod base through fence. GDI flag raised. G FLYY APC being killed by attack chopper. G N FORESTKL GDI soldier kills Nod soldier in forest. G N GAMEOVER GDI troops leaving a base by transport plane. G N GDI1 GDI briefing 1 G GDI2 GDI briefing 2 G GDI3 GDI briefing 3 G GDI4A GDI briefing 4A G GDI4B GDI briefing 4B G GDI5 GDI briefing 5 G GDI6 GDI briefing 6 G GDI7 GDI briefing 7 G GDI8A GDI briefing 8A G GDI8B GDI briefing 8B G GDI9 GDI briefing 9 G GDI10 GDI briefing 10 G GDI11 GDI briefing 11 G GDI12 GDI briefing 12 G GDI13 GDI briefing 13 G GDI14 GDI briefing 14 G GDI15 GDI briefing 15 G GDI3LOSE Tank being killed by attack chopper. G GDIEND1 TV news about final battle (won by superior tactics). G GDIEND2 TV news about final battle (won by ion cannon). G GDIFINA Destruction of temple (By normal weapons). G GDIFINB Destruction of temple (By ion blast). G GDILOSE Scorpion breaking through wall. G N GENERIC Briefing from Kane about strange animals. G GUNBOAT Gun boat destroying a Turret. G HELLVALY Chopper flys over desolated valley with visceroids. N INSITES Plane shot down from view point of SAM site. G N INTRO2 Introduction video. Channel changing. N KANEPRE More information about Tiberium. G N LANDING Hovercrafts heading for beach. G N LOGO The Westwood logo. G NAPALM Mobile HQ destroyed by A10 planes. G NITEJUMP Soldiers sneaking into base by chopper. G N NOD1 Nod briefing 1 N NOD2 Nod briefing 2 N NOD3 Nod briefing 3 N NOD4A Nod briefing 4A N NOD4B Nod briefing 4B N NOD5 Nod briefing 5 N NOD6 Nod briefing 6 N NOD7A Nod briefing 7A N NOD7B Nod briefing 7B N NOD8 Nod briefing 8 N NOD9 Nod briefing 8 N NOD10A Nod briefing 10A N NOD10B Nod briefing 10B N NOD11 Nod briefing 11 N NOD12 Nod briefing 12 N NOD13 Nod briefing 13 G N NOD1PRE Nod logo on snowy TV screen. N NODEND1 Paris hit by ion blast. N NODEND2 Washington hit by ion blast. N NODEND3 London hit by ion blast. N NODEND4 Berlin hit by ion blast. N NODFINAL Netrunners dancing through the web of cyberspace... G NODFLEES Nod soldiers running away from GDI tanks in forest. G N NODLOSE Eagle catching a scorpion. G NODSWEEP Nod vehicles moving through forest. N NUKE Nuclear missile launched from temple. N OBEL Humm-Vee being destroyed by obelisk of light. G PARATROP Paratroopers jumping from plane. G PINTLE Chopper being shot by bazooka. G PLANECRA Antonov transport plane crashing on airstrip. G PODIUM Gen. Sheppard questioned by journalists. N REFINT Inside tiberium refinery. G N RETRO Prisoner interrogated and killed in warehouse. G SABOTAGE Time-bomb placed in building. G SAMDIE SAM site destroyed by grenades. G N SAMSITE SAM site firing missiles at plane. N SETHPRE Background info about Nod and tiberium G N SEIGE A base under siege with enemy aproaching from all sides. N SPYCRASH Plane crashing on mosque. N STEALTH Stealth tank attacking a base. N SUNDIAL Large sundial destroyed in battle. N TANKGO Medium Tanks moving through the desert. N TANKKILL Medium Tank being destroyed by bazooka. G TBRINFO1 News items about current world situation. G TBRINFO2 More info about tiberium. G TBRINFO3 More info about the dangers of tiberium. N TIBERFX More info about the dangers of tiberium. N TRTKIL_D Destruction of a gun turret in desert. G TURTKILL Destruction of a gun turret in forest. G N VISOR A10 planes heading for new target. ***************** 2.1.2 Theme Names ***************** After the line, "Theme=" you may put the name of a particular track that you would like to play when the mission starts. Note: The music will start right when the ACTION video would start which can cause some performance problems. Further Note: Spelling and capitilization do matter, and many of the following songs are not on the normal play list. Some are not even used in the normal game. Theme Name Description **************************************************************************** Demolition Song on Play List. You've probably heard it. Take 'em Out " Radio " Rain In The Night " Canyon Chase " Act On Instinct " Looks Like Trouble " Industrial " On The Prowl " Prepare For Battle " Just Do It! " In The Line Of Fire " March To Doom " Deception " C&C Thang " Warfare " Fight, Win, Prevail " No Mercy " Mechanical Man " Untamed Land Song played during Dino Missions. I Am Nod ending theme. Air Strike GDI ending theme. Enemies To Be Feared Unused song. Die!! Another unused song. Ride of the Valkyries Unused song, but I'm sure you've heard it before. Great Shot! Song played when you finish a mission. MAP1 Title screen theme. ********* 2.2 [Map] ********* This section will describe the basic map layout. This is one section you should definitely edit before you use CCMAP to create your map otherwise you can have some serious problems later. Here's is an example... [Map] Height=60 {1} Width=60 {2} X=2 {3} Y=2 {4} Theater=TEMPERATE {5} 1: Height of the map (max 62) 2: Width of the map (max 62) (Note: Making your map 62x62 can cause problems when you use A-10s or transport planes because they don't actually leave the map, but stay at the map edge. To deal with this, you should use a maximum of 61x61. Actually, just to be safe, I never go over 60x60.) 3: Where the Left border starts in X coordinates. 4: Where the Top border starts in Y coordinates. 5: The type of landscape. Either WINTER, DESERT, or TEMPERATE. Note: If you try using TEMPERAT, it may cause your mission to crash. ********************************************************* 2.3 [GoodGuy], [BadGuy], [Neutral], [Special], [Multi1-6] ********************************************************* These sections describe the different sides/houses in a mission. Here is an example of what they will look like. [GoodGuy] FlagHome=0 {1} FlagLocation=0 {2} MaxBuilding=150 {3} MaxUnit=250 {4} Allies=GoodGuy {5} Edge=South {6} Credits=50 {7} 1: Unknown. Possibly related to Capture The Flag setting in Multiplayer. 2: Unknown. Possibly related to Capture The Flag setting in Multiplayer. (Note: The two above values will have no effect on your mission typically so you may as well delete them.) 3: Most likely a limit to the number of buildings that can be built. 4: Most likely a limit to the number of units that can be built. 5: Your units will not fire on any units under this section unless you tell them to "Force" attack. More than one entry may be placed here such as "Allies=GoodGuy, Neutral" though note that this is not a reciprocal Alliance. Other units will fire on you even if you consider them allies if they are not also set to consider you as allies. 6: This signifies from which direction reinforcements will arrive for this house. 7: Number of credits this house will start with divided by 100. For example, 50 stands for 5000 credits. Note: Besides GoodGuy and BadGuy, you may also play as Neutral, Special, Multi1, Multi2, ... , or Multi6 or have a computer play one of them. If you choose Neutral or Special, all units of that house will be the same color as GDI units, but appear gray on the radar. If you play as Neutral, you cannot build anything, if you play as Special, you can build anything from either GDI or Nod and your logo will be a dinosaur thing. If you play as any of the Multi# then your units will be different colors but still appear gray on the radar. You will also be able to build anything. The color chart follows... Multi1: Blue Multi2: Orange Multi3: Green Multi4: Steel (Gray) Multi5: Khaki (GDI color) Multi6: Red GoodGuy: Khaki BadGuy: Red Structures, Gray Units Further Note: If you play as Special, or any of the Multi's, even though you can build anything, if you build a helipad, it will come with an Apache, not an Orca. Also, if you build a Temple of Nod, you'll get a Nuke, but if you build an Adv. Com. Center, you won't get an Ion Cannon. ************* 2.4 [Terrain] ************* This is where all of the trees, blossom trees, and rocks are layed out. CCMAP pretty much has this completely worked out so you don't really have to worry about it, however, here's the basic format... 2080=SPLIT2,None | | | 1 2 3 1: Cell position of the Terrain object. 2: The type of object. T## is a various type of tree, TC## is a batch of trees, ROCK# is a rock, SPLIT2 and SPLIT3 are blossom trees. 3: A trigger that the terrain piece is associated with. (See section 2.12) ************* 2.5 [Overlay] ************* This section describes where things such as Tiberium, walls, and crates will appear. Again, CCMAP pretty much has this covered, but it doesn't have crates so I'll describe the format here. 2080=BRIK | | 1 2 1: Cell position of Overlay tile. 2: What type of tile is there. TI1 ... TI12 are Tiberium. WOOD; wooden fence, BARB; barbed wire, SBAG; Sandbag, CYCL; Chain-Link fence, BRIK; concrete wall. Recently, I discovered from a mission, by Sunny T. Lee, that FPLS is a tile that looks just like the "bullseye" in the Capture the Flag setting in multiplayer games. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any indication of what the name for the FLAG is, so we can't quite use this yet. However, the "bullseye" would probably make a nifty looking Chinook drop zone. Note: TI1 seems to have just as much Tiberium as TI12, so I'm not sure what the number means. Density of Tiberium is determined by how many tiles you have next to each other. To save space, you should usually just use TI1 which will also make it simpler. I discovered that you may also place some civilian buildings on your map through this section. Refer to section 2.8 for more information. ************ 2.5.1 Crates ************ CCMAP doesn't allow for the placing of crates, however you can still put them into your missions. In place of TI1 or BRIK or whatever, you can put either WCRATE or SCRATE standing for wooden crate and steel crate. If you pick up the WCRATE, you'll get $2000. If you pick up the SCRATE, no effect will really happen, however you can use it in conjunction with Celltriggers for a pretty good effect (See section 2.11). Actually, I have since discovered that if you have a Temple of Nod and you don't have a Nuclear Missle Icon in the Sidebar then collect 3 steel crates, you will get a Nuclear Missle Icon in your Sidebar which will then start to charge. However, note that if you already have a Nuclear Missle Icon, or you don't have a Temple of Nod, then SCRATES will have no natural effect. Note: Very important, if you put crates in your INI file, then use CCMAP to change your map, and you save it, CCMAP will erase all crate entries you put in your mission because it doesn't recognize them. ************ 2.6 [Smudge] ************ CCMAP doesn't handle this, but then again, it's not that useful. All it does is place various scorch marks and craters on the map. Here's the format anyway... 2080=SC1 | | 1 2 1: Cell position 2: Type of Smudge. SC1 ... SC6 are scorch marks. CR1 ... CR6 are craters. *************** 2.7 [Waypoints] *************** These are numbers used in the [TeamType] section which act as shortcuts to denote postitions on the map. You can have a maximum of 32 waypoints, (0-31) however, there are 3 waypoints which serve a special purpose. Waypoint 25: Yellow Flare will be lit here if specified to do so. Waypoint 26: This will be the top-left corner of the screen when you start the level. Otherwise, the screen will start at the top-left corner of the map. Waypoint 27: Default drop site for Chinooks if no "unload" command is used in the TeamType section (See section 2.13). For waypoints, as well as most values, a -1 means that it is not used. **************** 2.8 [Structures] **************** This describes all of the buildings on the map. CCMAP does most of this for you. All you'll usually need to do here is change the building health, and trigger association. Here is an example... 000=GoodGuy,FACT,256,2080,0,None | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1: Building Index. Not really important. 2: Building Owner. 3: Building Type. (See section 2.8.1 for the chart) 4: Health. Note: this is a proportional health, so 256 is the maximum for every structure. If you want to change a structure's health, you should definitely do it here rather than CCMAP where you will have to change the health by one unit per one click. 5: Cell postion of building. Usually the upper left corner of the building. 6: Direction which building faces. Only useful for Gun Turrets. can be any value from 0-255. 0=North, 64=East, 128=South, 192=West. 7: Name of a trigger building is associated with. (See section 2.12) Note: It is possible to also place some civilian buildings through the [Overlay] section instead. You would do this by making an entry such as... 2080=V12 This will cause the building to be seen at that cell position, however, you will not be able to select or attack this building. The usefulness of this option is mainly for decoration. I believe that this will only work for TEMPERATE and WINTER theaters for the civilian buildings which are actually various crop fields etc. ************************** 2.8.1 Structure Type Chart ************************** Built It Index Structure Abbreviation used ***************************************************************************** 0 Weapons Factory WEAP 1 Guard Tower GTWR 2 Adv. Guard Tower ATWR 3 Obelisk of Light OBLI 4 Communications Center HQ 5 Gun Turret GUN 7 Tiberium Refinery PROC 8 Tiberium Silo SILO 9 Helipad HPAD 10 SAM Site SAM 11 Airstrip AFLD 12 Power Plant NUKE 13 Adv. Power Plant NUK2 15 Barracks PYLE 17 Repair Bay FIX 19 Hand of Nod HAND 20 Temple of Nod TMPL 21 Adv. Com. Center EYE -1 Civilian Buildings V## ?? Technology Center MISS ?? Bio-Tech Center BIO ?? Hospital HOSP ******************************************************** 2.8.2 Civilian Structures that CCMAP v2.1 Doesn't Handle ******************************************************** You may have already noticed that if you attempt to place civilian structures on your map with CCMAP while using DESERT environment, they will all not be shown on your map. This is because apparently different graphics are used for structures between TEMPERATE and WINTER, and DESERT. Below is a list of the Civilian Structures that will work in the DESERT environment (but not TEMPERATE and WINTER) as well as a brief description of each. With this chart, you can first use CCMAP to place several buildings so you'll know the cell positions of where you want your buildings to be, then just use this chart to swap the "V##" in your INI file after making your map, with one from the chart. Building Abbreviation Building Description ***************************************************************************** V19 Oil Pump (Same as TEMPERATE and WINTER) V20 Two wooden structures and a clothesline V21 Wooden structure and clothesline V22 Wooden structure and clothesline V23 Village Well and clothesline V24 Concrete structure with wooden attachment V25 Church V26 Two wooden structures V27 Concrete structure V28 Wooden structure V29 Wooden structure V30 Village Well and Stable V31 Hut with skulls on pikes. Witch Doctor's Hut? V32 Two huts V33 Two huts V34 A hut V35 A hut V36 A hut V37 Large building. Looks like... Library? College? Furthermore, strcutures in TEMPERATE and WINTER scenarios usually look identical except for some snow. However, V12 and V13 appear as circular haystacks in the TEMPERATE theater (in CCMAP as well), but appear as igloos in the WINTER theater. *********** 2.9 [Units] *********** Very similar to [Structures]. CCMAP does most of it again, but you may want to change a few values. Here's the format... 000=GoodGuy,JEEP,256,2080,0,Guard,None | | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1: Unit Index, not very important. 2: Unit Owner. 3: Type of unit. (See below for chart) 4: Proportional health of Unit. 5: Cell Position. 6: Direction Unit is facing. (0-255) 224 0 32 \ | / 192-- * --64 / | \ 160 128 96 7: Action Unit will take. Guard: Simlar to Area Guard, but less aggressive. Area Guard: Guard area around cell. Attack Units: Attack enemy units. Attack Base: Attack enemy base. Attack Civil.: Attack Civilians. Hunt: Search for and attack enemy units and/or base. Sticky: Stay at the cell, whatever happens. Won't return fire unless attacked. Defend Base: Defend own base Harvest: Only for harvesters, harvest Tiberium. Sleep: Stay at the cell, whatever happens. Won't return fire even if attacked. None: Do nothing Attack Tarcom: Unknown Rampage: Unknown Retreat: Unknown Return: Unknown 8: Trigger Unit is associated with. ********************* 2.9.1 Unit Type Chart ********************* VICE Visceroid MCV Mobile Constr. Vehicle FTNK Flame Tank JEEP Humm-Vee STNK Stealth Tank BGGY Nod Buggy LTNK Light Tank BIKE Recon Bike MTNK Medium Tank MSAM Rocket Truck HTNK Mammoth (Heavy) Tank BOAT Gunboat MHQ Mobile HQ TRAN Chinook * LST Hovercraft A10 A-10 Ground Support Aircraft * MLRS SSM ORCA Orca * ARTY Mobile Artillery HELI Apache * HARV Harvester C17 C17 Transport Plane * APC Armored Personnel Carrier TRIC Triceratops TREX Tyranosaurus Rex RAPT Velociraptor STEG Stegasaurus * For TeamTypes ONLY! Indeed, there are Dinos in the game. Use CCEDIT from Andrew Griffin to be able to see them. Without using CCEDIT or some simliar program, the usefulness of the C17 transport plane is questionable. Since it's Cannot Land flag is on, when I tried to get it to move somewhere, it caused my game to crash. *************** 2.10 [Infantry] *************** This describes all of the personnel on the map. Similar again to Units. Here's the format... 000=GoodGuy,E1,256,2080,0,Guard,0,None | | | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1: Infantry Index. Not very important. 2: Infantry Owner. 3: Infantry Type. E1: Minigunner RMBO: Commando E2: Grenadier C1..C10: Various Civilians E3: Rocketeer MOEBIUS: Dr. Moebius E4: Flame Thrower DELPHI: Agent Delphi E5: Chemical Warrior CHAN: Civilian in lab coat E6: Engineer 4: Proportional Health. 5: Cell position 6: Sub-Cellnumber. Each Cell is divided into 5 sub-cells which you can place the infantry into. Note: If you put more than one infantry in one cell, and then use CCMAP to change the map and save it, CCMAP will erase all of the infantry except one for each cell. Sub-Cell division... 1 2 0 3 4 7: Action Infantry takes. Same as Units. 8: Direction facing. Same as Units. 9: Trigger Infantry is associated with. ******************* 2.11 [Celltriggers] ******************* You will need to add these yourself. You will use them when you want something to happen in your mission when a cell is entered by a unit. Each one needs a corresponding normal "Trigger" with a "Player Enters" activator. Here's the format... 2080=ALRT | | 1 2 1: Cell Position of Celltrigger. 2: Trigger that Celltrigger is associated with. For example, if a unit moves onto the 2080 cell position, then the trigger named ALRT will be activated. *************** 2.12 [Triggers] *************** This and TeamTypes are probably the two most complicated parts of the INI file. In this section, you will describe just about everything that will happen in your mission. Here's the format... Zap=Time,Ion Cannon,180,GoodGuy,None,1 | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1: Trigger name. Can be just about anything. Try to keep it short. 2: Trigger activator. What must happen for the trigger to start... # Bldgs Dstr. : if specified number of struc. are destroyed. # Units Dstr. : if " " " units " " All Destr. : if EVERYTHING of one side is destroyed Any : used with Cap=Win/Des=Lose effect (see below) Attacked : if unit/structure/terrain/infantry gets attacked Bldgs Destr. : if all buildings of one side have been destroyed Built it : if a specific structure was built Civ. Evac. : if civilians have been evacuated (by Chinook?) Credits : certain amount of credits is reached Destroyed : if unit/structure/terrain/infantry is destroyed Discovered : if unit/structure/terrain/infantry is discovered House Discov. : if a certain side (House) has been discovered No Factories : if all Constr. Yard are destroyed Player Enters : if this cell is entered. Used when associated with celltriggers. Can also be used to activate when a building is captured by an Engineer. Time : if a certain amount of time has passed Units Destr. : if all vehicles and soldiers are destroyed 3: Effect of trigger. What will happen once the activator has been satisfied. Airstrike : Airstrike available. Note: Don't use this to give the computer air strikes. Use the method described in the TeamTypes section. All to Hunt : Everybody searches for and attacks the enemy Allow Win : Used when there is more than one goal to win the mission. You will have one of the goals as Allow Win, and the other would simply be Win. Autocreate : Random create a team specified in TEAMTYPES Cap=Win/Des=Lose : For buildings: captured=win/destroyed=lose Create Team : Create a specific team with name at '6' Note: If all of the units neccesesary for the team being created are already on the map and are doing nothing else, they will become the team. Otherwise, the team will be built back at the computer's base. Dstry Teams : Unknown Dstry Trig 'XXXX' : Destroy trigger with name XXXX. For example: you can attach XXXX to a timed Ion Cannon attack. If for example the Com. Center is destroyed which has that trigger XXXX, no more Ion Cannons will be fired anymore. Dstry Trig 'YYYY' : " " " " Dstry Trig 'ZZZZ' : " " " " DZ at 'Z' : Yellow flare is lit at waypoint 25 Ion Cannon : Ion cannon available Lose : You lose the mission Reinforce. : Reinforcements arrive Win : You win the mission Nuclear Missile : Nuke available Production : Until this effect occurs, the computer will not rebuild any of it's buildings or build any teams back at it's base. 4: This is a counter which is related to the activator. It can count things like time units, # of buildings destroyed, number of credits, or type of building built. Time units vary from computer to computer, but when I tried it on my 486DX2/66 with 8 meg RAM, 8 time units was about equal to 1 minute. Further Note: The counter for Built It denotes what building needs to be built. The proper indeces are listed under the Structures section 2.8.1. 5: House associated with activator. Can mean different things with different with different activators. 6: TeamType associated with trigger or "None" for no team. The name you make up can be pretty much anything, though try to keep it short. 7: Looping Bit. If value is 0, trigger will only be activated once. If it is either 1 or 2, then trigger will be activated whenever it's activator has been satisfied. Another way that this bit works is if you have the trigger named attached to more than one structure/unit/etc. and have the House association as "None" then the trigger effect will not occur until the activator has happened to each of the structures/units/etc. See the example for getting an Air Strike after destroying SAM sites. Note: When you make your mission, don't forget you have to have a trigger for Win, and one for Lose. If you want the computer to also build stuff, you will also need a Production trigger. **************** 2.13 [TeamTypes] **************** This can be a complicated section, because there are several numbers here which no one short of the programmers really understands. Here's the basic format... ATeam=GoodGuy,1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,2,RMBO:5,APC:1,2,Move:0,Guard,50,0,0 ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^ | | | | | | | | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1: Name of Team. can be just about anything. Try to keep it short. 2: Owner of Team. 3: Bizzare assortment of numbers. Not sure exactly what they mean. Here are some basic patterns which should be all that you need... * Reinforce by Chinook, Hovercraft, APC, A-10s or by any other units moving in from the side of the screen. 1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0 * Reinforce by an empty Chinook that you can select and control. 0,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0 * Create a team from base, or from the field if available. 1,0,0,1,0,15,1,0,0 Note: These aren't very sure numbers. Sometimes if you use the first pattern you can still use it with CREATE TEAM etc. but basically these work fine. Further: When you want to let the computer have an Air Strike to send against you, rather than use the "Airstrike" effect in the trigger, use "Reinforce." and make a team type similar to the following. a10s=GoodGuy,1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,1,A10:3,0,0,0 Also, if you send for reinforcements by land, you should make the side that they come from only have one opening while all other parts of that edge are covered by some map pieces so that you can "force" the reinforcements to come out where you want them to. Otherwise they'll just come out of the one side in a random position. 4: Number of different Types of units. 5: The different units, using same abbreviations as under Units and Infantry. The number after the colon represents how many of the preceding unit. For example, RMBO:5,APC:1 stands for 5 commandos and 1 APC, in this case the 5 commandos will be in the APC. Note: If you send reinforcements via Chinook, you can have it unload as many units as you like including vehicles. 6: Number of actions the team will undertake. In this case two. Can be 0. You should usually use 0 here for hovercraft reinforcements, and A-10s. 7: Actions that the team will take. Move:# Move to the waypoint which would be in place of # Unload:# Unload a Chinook, hovercraft, or APC Loop Repeat previous actions. In addition to the above, are all of the commands under the Units section. After those actions would follow ":##" where ## stands for the number of time units the team will undertake that action. Note: When a unit or team is set to Hunt or attack something, it will attack the most North Western unit that is visible by the player. 8: These two 0's aren't really known as to what they do. But, all Teams usually end with them or 1,0 but just leave it at 0,0. *********** 2.14 [Base] *********** This section will specify which buildings the computer will rebuild and which ones it won't bother to. Here's the format... 000=NUKE,151006464 | | | 1 2 3 1: Index of the Base line. Buildings with a lower index will have a higher priority to be built. 2: The type of building to be rebuilt. 3: Very confusing set of numbers which specifies the location of the building. It is recommended that you simply use something like CCTOOLS to do this, otherwise you will really need a calculator badly. The formula for this number I received from Andrew Griffin who got it from someone else. [ ( Y * 65472 ) + CellNumber ] * 256 Where Y is equal to the building's Y coordinate. You can find this out if you know the Cell position with the formula... y = Trunc ( CellNumber / 64 ) Trunc means to truncate, or to only take the integer part of the number. For example, if a buildings cell number is 160, then you would divide it by 64 giving you 2.5. Then you would truncate 2.5 giving you 2 which is the Y position of the building which you can use in the formula. At the end of the [Base] section, should be a line of the form "Count=X" where X is the number of entries. Another useful method of using this section is calculating the positions of all of the computer's buildings with the above formula. Then, instead of giving the computer all of those buildings, just give it a Construction Yard and a lot of money and it will build up its base from scratch. *************** 2.15 [Briefing] *************** When you make your custom mission, you want to have a description of the mission and this is where you put it. When you have this section, it will appear just like in Covert Operations after you would see the Brief and Action video clips. The format is as follows... [Briefing] 1=You would be typing your briefing description here. However it is 2=VERY important that your briefing not be too long. I have discovered 3=that in total, your briefing may not contain more than 260 ASCII 4=characters, but line count doesn't seem to matter. I did find that if your briefing contains more than 260 characters, then when your mission starts, it will play music during your cutscenes even if you don't want it to, then during the mission it won't play music at all. Basically, keep it under 260 characters or else it will screw up the mission pretty badly. It is possible to put in your mission briefing instead by creating a file in your C&C directory named MISSION.INI and have a section for each mission briefing such as... [SCG01EA] 1=Bla, Bla. If you use this method, then if you exceed 260 characters it won't cause any problems with your mission as it would if you used the normal [Briefing] method. However, this method does force you to use a cumbersome extra file, and if your briefing has TOO many characters (more than 6 lines?) then it may cause your game to crash. *********** 3. Examples *********** I would recommend that you try using an INI editor like CCTOOLS at first to help you out. What follows are some examples which should help you out. Another very good way to help you out is to extract INIs from the GENERAL.MIX files and look at some of the real examples there. * If you (BadGuy) pick up a steel crate at cell position 1063, then a flare will be lit at cell position 1000 making it appear as though when you pick up the crate, a flare is lit when you pick it up. [Overlay] 1063=SCRATE [Waypoints] 25=1000 [Celltriggers] 1063=Flare [Triggers] Flare=Player Enters,DZ at 'Z',0,BadGuy,None,0 * At the beginning of the mission, you (GoodGuy) will receive reinforcements in the form of an MCV on a hovercraft, and a few seconds later, you'll get another hovercraft with a Mammoth Tank on it. Note: As far as my testing has found, Hovercrafts may only come up from the South. [TeamTypes] CYard=1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,2,MCV:1,LST:1,0,0,0 Mamth=1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,2,HTNK:1,LST:1,0,0,0 [Triggers] STRT=Time,Reinforce.,1,GoodGuy,CYard,0 Help=Time,Reinforce.,2,GoodGuy,Mamth,0 If you are having trouble getting hovercrafts to work, here are some tips. Try to only use them to give yourself reinforcements (its hard enough to do that, let alone give them to the computer). Assuming you are using CCMAP, create a section at the bottom (South) of the map where there is a coast. Create the coast using ONLY the three map tiles available near the top of the CCMAP menu. Decide what area you want the Hovercraft to appear and instead of the three map tiles you used for the other areas, use the one that can be found further down in the menu. Beyond your coast should be some water which you should fill in with the 2x2 water map tile also near the top of the CCMAP menu. In the area where you want the Hovercraft to appear, replace those tiles with a 2x2 water map tile from further down the menu near that other coast map tile. Just to be sure your Hovercraft shows up at the right place, place rocks in the water everywhere except where you want it to show up. * Every 150 time units, the computer (GoodGuy) will send 2 A-10s to attack you. Once you (BadGuy) build a SAM site, the A-10s will stop coming. [TeamTypes] A10s=GoodGuy,1,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,1,A10:2,0,0,0 [Triggers] XXXX=Time,Reinforce.,150,GoodGuy,A10s,1 Stop=Built It,Dstry Trig 'XXXX',10,BadGuy,None,0 * Every 100 time units, the computer will build 2 Mammoth Tanks and 2 Rocket Trucks to attack your base for 99 time units. The computer however will only start building them after you have collected 2000 credits. [TeamTypes] TNKS=GoodGuy,1,0,0,1,0,15,1,0,0,2,HTNK:2,MSAM:2,1,Attack Base:99,0,0 [Triggers] Attk=Time,Create Team,100,GoodGuy,TNKS,1 Begin=Credits,Production,2000,BadGuy,None,0 * If you (GoodGuy) attack the computer's (BadGuy) Temple of Nod, then it will launch a Nuclear Missle at you. [Structures] 000=BadGuy,TMPL,256,2080,0,Rehit [Triggers] Rehit=Attacked,Nuclear Missile,0,BadGuy,None,0 * A common trigger in GDI missions which you can replicate is to give yourself Air Strikes after all SAM sites have been destroyed. In this example, once the four SAMs have been destroyed you get your Air Strike. [Structures] 003=BadGuy,SAM,256,2451,0,Air 002=BadGuy,SAM,256,2430,0,Air 001=BadGuy,SAM,256,1120,0,Air 000=BadGuy,SAM,256,1656,0,Air [Triggers] Air=Destroyed,Airstrike,0,None,None,1 * There is a wooden crate at cell position 2000 and another at cell position 3000. You (Multi1) are trying to get the one at position 2000, and the computer (Multi2) is trying to get the one at position 3000 with his APC. If you get yours first, you win. If the AI (computer) gets its first, then you lose. The APC will go for the crate as soon as the mission starts. Note: This is still a good example, however since it was written I discovered that it will not work because the computer player cannot move onto a cell which has a crate on it. [Overlay] 2000=WCRATE 3000=WCRATE [Units] 000=Multi2,APC,256,1234,Guard,0,None [CellTriggers] 2000=Mine 3000=Its [Waypoints] 1=3000 [TeamTypes] Cargo=Multi2,1,0,0,1,0,15,1,0,0,1,APC:1,1,Move:1,0,0 [Triggers] Start=Time,Create Team,1,Multi2,Cargo,0 Mine=Player Enters,Win,0,Multi1,None,0 Its=Player Enters,Lose,0,Multi2,None,0 * Here's a trigger you've probably also seen before in some GDI missions. In this one, to win, you must evacuate Dr. Moebius in a Chinook, which will come after you destroy all Nod SAM sites, to win the mission. However, in this example, in addition, you must also destroy Nod's Bio-Research Facility. Furthermore, if Moebius dies, then you lose the mission. Note: When you have a "Civ. Evac." trigger activator, when you load a civilian (Moebius) into the Chinook, it automatically flys off. Phew, this one's getting complicated. [Infantry] 000=GoodGuy,MOEBIUS,256,2080,0,Guard,0,Fail [Structures] 000=BadGuy,BIO,256,1234,0,Win2 001=BadGuy,SAM,256,1232,0,FreeSky 002=BadGuy,SAM,256,1236,0,FreeSky [Waypoints] 5=2081 [TeamTypes] Evac=GoodGuy,0,0,0,0,0,7,0,0,0,1,TRAN:1,1,Move:5,0,0 [Triggers] Fail=Destroyed,Lose,0,None,None,0 FreeSky=Destroyed,Reinforce.,0,None,Evac,1 Win2=Destroyed,Allow Win,0,None,None,0 Win=Civ. Evac.,Win,0,GoodGuy,None,0 ************************** 4. Making Multiplayer Maps ************************** Making Multiplayer maps is actually much simpler than making single player maps because mainly all you need to do is make the map and that's it. First start out as usual, create your map, then before exiting CCMAP, look through the map you created and find the cell numbers of all the possible start postitions that you would like. Now, under the waypoints section, use all of those starting position cell numbers and use them as the first few waypoints, (0,1,2,...). Depending on how many you place, that is the number of possible starting positions. From there, you're pretty much done, all you have to do is add a Name entry and use the techniques described below to make the map playable. I haven't confirmed it, however I've heard that if you put units in your map, regardless of color, they will be hostile to all players. Since the last revision, I have tested it, and Triggers will NOT work in multiplayer maps. Furthermore, you cannot place crates in a multiplayer map either. In both cases, they simply won't show up in your map. ******************************* 5. Making Your Mission Playable ******************************* Well, now that you've made your great, or not so great mission, you need to be able to play it so that you can test it. I shall describe two techniques to do this. I would highly recommend the NEW MISSIONS method over the GENERAL.MIX method, but in order to use the NEW MISSIONS method, you need either the Covert Operations CD installed, or the Covert Operations demo. ************************************ 5.1 GENERAL.MIX to Hard Drive Method ************************************ This method will require MIXMAN, a hexidecimal editor, and for you to copy some files to your hard drive. First off, if you made a GDI mission, then copy the GENERAL.MIX file from the GDI CD to your C&C directory, or from the Nod CD if your mission is a Nod mission. Once you've done that, rename GENERAL.MIX to GENER.MIX. Next, you will need a Hexadecimal editor (a text editor will not work). Use the Hex editor to search the GAME.DAT file in your C&C directory for two occurences of "GENERAL.MIX" then change both of these to "C:GENER.MIX" with your editor. It is strongly recommended that you make a back-up copy of your GAME.DAT file first because making mistaken hex edits can seriously screw up your program. Now that this is done, use MIXMAN to replace two matching INI and MAP files in the new GENER.MIX file with the two you created. Replace a mission who's number is the same as the BuildLevel that you want. Then, start up the game, and load a savegame you have on the mission which you replaced and then select restart. Note: When using this method, the Name you gave your mission will never appear, and the briefing will not be shown unless you select Restate. *********************** 5.2 NEW MISSIONS Method *********************** This method works much better however it requires that you either have the Covert Operations CD installed, or the Covert Operations demo. When you have one of the above, in the main menu there will be a button labeled NEW MISSIONS. After you've done the following, your mission will appear in that menu for you to start from. Once you've completed making your mission, name it in the method described in the [Basic] section otherwise you'll just see an "X", then you should probably also give the mission a [Briefing] section. Note: If your mission has a video clip for the Intro section, it won't be shown. Now that you have done that, you must name your INI and MAP file properly. If you have a GDI mission, name both files SCG##EA.* Rename the MAP file to have the extension BIN instead. In place of the "##" you need to put a number. Most of the numbers upto 30 are used by the campaign and Covert Operations. Just to be safe, simply name it 50 or 60, anything upto 99. So you should have two files named something like SCG50EA.INI and SCG50EA.BIN. Now when you start the game and press the NEW MISSIONS button, in the menu near the end should be your mission. If the mission you made was Nod rather than GDI, then instead name the files as SCB##EA.*. To make multiplayer maps, name them as SCM##EA.* *************************************** 6. Where to Send Your Completed Mission *************************************** Now before you do send your mission to some web site so that people may play it, I'd like to make a few highly opinionated opinions. DON'T just send a mission as soon as you can get it to run without crashing. Take the time to make it at least reasonably fun to play. Making it fun to play (in my opinion anyway) means to... (1): Make sure it works correctly first (you'd be surprised that some people don't understand this). (2): Supplement your mission with at least a fairly decent story line. It doesn't even have to be great, but as long as there is one. It is very annoying to see someone make a mission, and all the briefing is, "Okay, kill everything." That really makes the mission boring. However, when you do write your story, try not to deter from the original plot. (3): Most importantly, THE BEST MISSION IS NOT THE HARDEST MISSION. It is extremely annoying when people make their missions impossibly hard. Missions should be a challenge, not a migraine. Now that you've read my fanatical ravings, I suppose I can tell you that probably the best place to post your missions (also probably the best C&C web site) is "The Temple of the Conquerer" at http://www10.torget.se/temple. The only other site I've found which is for posting single player missions is "http://www.communique.net/~dream" although they haven't yet posted the missions I sent them so I'm not so sure how prompt they are. If you make a multiplayer map, it is probably best to send it to the web site for CC-MAP PACK or something like that. I don't know the URL for that one, but just use a link from another site or do a search. I'm sure there are other good places to send your missions, but thus far, these are the only two which I'm aware of. ***************** 7. Final Comments ***************** Hopefully this should help many of you out there, I certainly hope so since this took me several hours to write. If you have any further questions about INI editing, comments, or new information about INI editing that I could put into an update (giving you credit of course) then send me an e-mail at MastrMind3@aol.com. *************** 8. Thanks To... *************** Thanks to a whole bunch of people. Andrew Griffin for his help with some of the questions I originally had, Han Brunger definitely for making the original manual which helped immensely in the creation of this document, Vladan Bato for MIXMAN as well as answering some of my questions, and Richard Heesbeen and Jeroen Ritmeijer for the really cool CCMAP which helped a lot not only in making my custom missions, but in testing missions to create this document. Westwood Studios for the best game I've played to date without which this manual would be meaningless. Of course, hopefully it won't have been the best game I've played after October. Still there's more. Thanks to the person who figured the names of all the movie clips, and the person who figured out the music tracks. Sorry, but I don't know either of your names. Wait, I'm not done yet. There are probably dozens more people who deserve thanks, but I'm only mortal and I'm not able to remember everybody. Some such people could include you as I got some of my information from looking at the custom missions people have made and posted.