Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:03 am Post subject:
It Came From Red Alert! - Beta Release 1
Well boys and girls, here's Beta Release 1 of It Came From Red Alert! Download Link (7.18mb .zip)
I think I've pretty much got everything in that I want to include. I'm sure something will come to me now that I've released, but that's bound to happen.
This excerpt from the release notes (full version available by clicking "Manual" in the mod launcher) should cover anything you need to know.
Or you can just scroll to the few pictures at the bottom :p
ICFRA Release Notes wrote:
It Came From Red Alert!
Beta Release 1
A mod by Daz
-----------------------------------------What's this ICFRA Beta Release 1 thing all about then?
This is the first beta release of my Red Alert mod.
The mod aims to bring Red Alert into the Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge engine. I intend to replace all units and structures, bring in the RA sounds and other key elements like the infantry remains. It's likely that I will make a campaign map or two for each side at some stage too.
Whilst the mod's name is a reference to the B-Movie style screen from the Counterstrike ant missions, it is unlikely I'll be bringing the ants back for another crack at fame. It could happen though, if I get bored and fancy making some shp ants.
This first beta release has all of the non-graphics coding done (although alot of that is done too), the AI coding has been modified to make the AI use everything it should and not use things it shouldn't. The AI is not final by any means however. Some graphics have been introduced but these are certainly subject to change, some are placeholders that are not necessarily anything like the final version will be whilst others are early versions of the final graphics - this is in more detail below.
-----------------------------------------You say this is a "Beta Release"?
Yes, I have spent a good few days testing this myself as I went along adding and changing things and have squashed all the bugs I can find.
I'm now handing over to the public to try and find any problems so I can fix them for the second release. It gives me chance to work on the graphics and in an ideal world would mean only two beta releases before Release Version 1.
I'd like all feedback posted in this topic on the Revora Forums (http://forums.revora.net/index.php?showtopic=42170), this topic also details areas which may contain bugs. If you don't have a Revora account and for whatever reason refuse to register for one you can send feedback to this e-mail address (icfra@dazw.co.uk)
-----------------------------------------So what's actually in there?
All weapons, warheads, units and structures have been modified to use the RA attributes (strength, speed, cost, damage, etc).
The tech trees have been made to match the RA ones.
All selection, moving, firing, exploding and squishing sounds have been replaced, aswell as some miscellaneous ones.
The skirmish countries have been modified to match the RA countries as much as possible. Some of the tags do not carry over into RA2 however, so alternate bonuses have been put in place from what is available.
Some ingame graphics have been changed, these are either first versions of the new art or placeholders and so are likely to change.
New ingame art is as follows: Artillery, APC, Light Tank, V2, Ore Truck, MCV.
New ingame placeholder art is as follows: Medium Tank, Yak, Hind, Radar Jammer, Ranger, Demolition Truck.
Any instance of a structure or unit using original RA2 art is a placeholder, except for infantry which may remain unchanged.
Some UI graphics have been changed, these are likely to only have small modifications in their final versions.
The blood from RA has been added, however it just the original animations resized by 150%. I haven't decided if this looks okay or if I am going to have to make new blood graphics.
There may be some other changes that have slipped my mind. If you find any let me know so I can include them here.
Here are some screenshots of the early versions of the new art.
A nice little Allied taskforce - 5 Light Tanks, 2 APCs, 2 Rangers and 2 Artillery units.
The Artillery units managed to take out one power plant then bit the dust via Tesla Coil and V2 rocket (they make that lovely kaboom sound though, so it's fine). The Light Tanks took out the V2, but the rocket was already reaching the Artillery unit.
A trio of V2s, supported by Mammoth Tanks (yes it's the Apoc art, but I wasn't going to send in V2s on their own ). _________________ QUICK_EDIT
are you gonna totally write over the Red alert 2 stuff, or is there any chance we can have some ra1 vs ra2 battles? _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Location: DAS BOOT IM DER OSTSEE
Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:01 am Post subject:
Daz, Like the mod..but why are you keeping those horrible ass Soviet colors for the Soviet tanks? THey'd look nicer in black like the RA1 renders. _________________ PPM's Reichstrollfuherer, 236th Trollenparties brigade. QUICK_EDIT
Some updates that I've been posting in the mod's forums.
I've added the Flamethrower infantry (which I'd forgotten..), Minelayers, Parabombs, the Missile Sub and done (at least first versiosns of) all the voxels.
The Sub variants.
The Missile Sub firing (the War Factory and Helipad are from an RA mod I started a long long time ago and only did one voxel and a couple of shps for, so they're likely to change textures at least).
Parabombs.
The Ranger now has drivers instead of empty seats, even if you can barely see them.
The Allied Navy (Gunboat Destroyer Cruiser), the Gunboat looks too modern so I'll have to have a play with that. It's difficult because the bridge, etc needs to be completely made up whereas there are FMVs for the Destroyer and Cruiser.
Only the front turret on the Cruiser turns, an RA2 limitation I can do nothing about.
The Allied Forces and Soviet Union pages on the website have pictures of every voxel unit. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Location: DAS BOOT IM DER OSTSEE
Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:15 pm Post subject:
The Submarines are totally sexy, but the ships really are hard to make out. I think the Badger looks odd....too fake, imo, and what about a light gray? Like Nod mobile Artillery from FS colour? _________________ PPM's Reichstrollfuherer, 236th Trollenparties brigade. QUICK_EDIT
yeah...the subs look really good
but the ships don´t fit the quality of the other voxels! _________________ just a simple logo by bricks @ raminator, on Flickr QUICK_EDIT
The Badger i'll be changing, most likely to grey as it's a neutral colour.
I was playing around in FinalAlert making a mission and had a paradrop for the Allies, when I tested the map a Soviet coloured plane with a big red star appeared and dropped off Tanya
The red nose is probably what makes it look "fake", if by fake you mean cartoonish. I'll make the engines remap instead of the nose.
With the ships the problem is that there's so much going on in such a small space, I could just try making the voxels bigger so it's less squashed.
Like the feedback, cheers people. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Location: DAS BOOT IM DER OSTSEE
Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 9:08 pm Post subject:
Delicious Tupolev 16...Much better. honestly, I think you should...if possible...go with the C-17 from TD..I put it in RA to replace the badger(which looks absolutely silly as a paradrop plane) and it looks wonderful. BTW, about the voxels overall,(Just ground units, the heavy tank looks nothing like 3TNK.) I think they'd look better mirroring the sprites themselves, and maybe a little bit smaller, or make an optional 'Sprite Style' voxel pack for people who want retroness.... _________________ PPM's Reichstrollfuherer, 236th Trollenparties brigade. QUICK_EDIT
The only problem with that is how hard it is to get anything graphically from the RA sprites.
The Light Tank is a box with a circle and a black line.
The Medium Tank is a slightly bigger box with a slightly different shaped circle and a black line.
Etc.
I was considering doing a retro graphics game mode (having the units mostly remap with black/grey details as in RA), but you can't really model from the sprites as theres just not enough to go on.
The Heavy Tank was done from a T80, which is what they are in the FMVs.
It perhaps wasn't particuarly well done, and it's certainly the one I'm least fond of.
The Badger does look a bit daft as a Paratroopers plane, but its what they used in RA so it's what I'm using. C&C in general doesn't really make sense
I added the M.A.D. Tank by the way.
_________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 25 Aug 2004 Location: DAS BOOT IM DER OSTSEE
Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:54 pm Post subject:
Well you could always follow the style of the WW voxels left in the mixes and finish that set. I'd be more then eager to help make a 'retro' set for you with them.
Regarding the gunboat. Look at the cameo, and you'll find that it's the same as the TD FMV gunboat. Once you realise that, source material wont be hard to find. _________________
[quote="Lt A1br3cht"]Kill it with fire!!!!!!!!!!![/quote] QUICK_EDIT
The buildings at the moment.
The Power Plants and War Factory looked great until I put them into unittem.
Obviously all the shadows are a bit messed up, but its not worth fixing yet as i'll probably end up re-rendering them at least once. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Fixed the Tech Centre, something posessed me into making it 2x3 instead of 2x2..
Made Parabombs smaller, overwrote the original image so you may need to refresh to see the new version (if the Badger is in Soviet scheme, it's the old version).
Some building changes, click to englarge.
The Camo Pillbox is dark as the terrain will eventually be darker.
Need to do AA Gun, Turret, Tesla Coil, Flame Tower, Naval Yard (done one but it looks rubbish), Sub Pen, Soviet Tech Centre, Missile Silo, Chronosphere, Iron Curtain, Concrete Wall and Barbed Wire Fence. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
I want to give it the triangled effect like it had in RA, but I've no idea how to do it short of moving polies to change the squares to triangles. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Same I get an error 403. _________________ "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." QUICK_EDIT
Shouldnt be too hard. All I would do is just make a sphere and cut half from it and then extrude and scale it up.
Erm, if I've made it what would I gain from extruding it or scaling it up..?
Have you ever actually used 3dsmax or are you just spouting random stuff from other things you've read?
Good point on the egg/ball shape. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
WTF are you saying of course I use 3d max and I know what im talking about. Ive been modelling in both maya and max (max 3 years , maya a few days already). I quite frankly take that to be an insult towards me _________________ "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." QUICK_EDIT
Well I think you need to keep practising, max makes meshs editable in squares, so nothing of what you said would acheive trianglulation.
If I extrude all around the sphere it would just get bigger, and if I scaled it up it would get bigger still.
I don't see what scaling has to do with anything, you can just make the thing the right size to start with.
I've solved the problem now anyway, there's a primitive called GeoSphere that makes a sphere from triangles instead of squares. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Ah yes the geosphere I forgot it existed _________________ "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." QUICK_EDIT
seems to be still "eggy" but way better now though _________________ "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." QUICK_EDIT
Ah just refreshed the page seems it was a cache problem but now its no longer eggy. Good job did you uv unwrap it ? _________________ "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." QUICK_EDIT
None of that is properly unwrapped, as none of it has proper skins.
It's all just generic textures and the UVmapping modifier set to something appropriate. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Cool, how things are shaping up...the buildings are really dark... there kinda on the chunky side im sure you noticed the tiling on the texture. but these are minor things.
but good work. and love the voxels. _________________ Delirium.. QUICK_EDIT
whats the new lighting ? _________________ "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." QUICK_EDIT
You mean around the outside of them?
It's where the background (blue) has antialiased into the building's colour when rendered.
Background antialiasing is off in max but it still does it, if I don't find a fix i'll sit and manually remove it when I've got renders that I intend to keep.
It's not worth doing yet, or i'll just have to re-edit them every time I render them out.
Edit:
The new lighting is a new lighting setup Gamemate sent me to have a play with, its meant to be alot closer to proper lighting than the flyby script. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
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It Came From Red Alert! - Beta Release 1
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