Red Alert 0.09c Beta: Lost Mission Restoration

Banshee · Last edited by Banshee on Wed Dec 11, 2019 2:42 pm; edited 1 time in total

This is a bit old, perhaps one month old, but it truly deserves a record here. Chad1233, Tomsons26 and few others have restored the lost mission that was found on Red Alert 0.09c Beta but couldn't originally be opened properly on its map editor. The restoration was possible because some data could be loaded and some beta teasers of the game were found in the process. Here's the full explanation from Nyerguds about it, originally posted on Reddit:

Quote:

Hello, Reddit!

As you may remember, CCHyper (/u/cchyper88) made a post here a while back announcing the Red Alert beta v0.09c we managed to obtain. Since then, we have continued to dig into it, and we found out something rather peculiar.

In the beta content, there was a mission file that was difficult to open in map editors, due to it being in a very old version of the mission format, which seemed to be very close to the one used in Command & Conquer 1. This was unfortunate, since C&C1 has all its map terrain information in a second file, and this mission did not include that.

When we finally manage to convert and view the mission, minus terrain, the placement of some of the units and structures seemed eerily familiar. Our collective sense of déjà-vu was not unfounded: it exactly matched a mission shown in some Red Alert trailer videos and beta screenshots.

The mission as we found it, with just units, structures and terrain decoration, but no terrain.

The mission, as seen in trailers

Another screenshot of the same map

Since this mission does not appear in the final game, we set out to reconstruct it, using the available shots and the minimaps shown in them. The actual map reconstruction work was done by Chad1233 and Tomsons26. The full team credits are mentioned at the end of the post, and in the readme document included in the download.

Anyway, without further ado:

Mission download in the release thread at the CnCNet forum
Playthrough on YouTube by TaxOwlbear, which includes information on the reconstruction process.

Full team credits:

Chad1233 - For starting the project and making the rest of map and scripts.
Tomsons26 - For initial terrain recreation from screenshots and the minimap, and playtesting.
TaxOwlBear (/u/TaxOwlbear) - For playtesting, suggestion, and showcasing the mission on his channel.
Nyerguds (/u/Nyerguds)- For briefing and grammar, and proofreading and expanding the readme document.
Tore (/u/Tore29) - For briefing suggestions.
CCHyper (/u/cchyper88) - For motivating us to keep working on it.