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RACG110.TXT
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The Red Alert
Single Player Mission Creation Guide
Release 1.1
May 28, 1997
Copyright 1997 Andrew Griffin and C. F. Harkins
All Rights Reserved
andrewg@light.iinet.net.au
cfhark@msn.com
DISCLAIMER
The purpose of this guide is to aid the public with the creation of
single player missions for the game Command and Conquer: Red Alert, by
Westwood Studios Inc.
The authors claim no responsibility regarding any illegal activity
concerning this guide, or indirectly related to this guide.
Future updates and add-ons may render parts of this guide obsolete.
TRADEMARK INFORMATION
Command and Conquer: Red Alert is a trademark of Westwood Studios, Inc.,
and is so acknowledged. Any trademarks not directly mentioned are also
acknowledged.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This article is Copyright 1997 by Andrew Griffin and C.F.Harkins.
All rights reserved. You are granted the following rights:
I. To make copies of this work in original form, provided:
(a) the copies are exact and complete;
(b) the copies include the copyright notice and these paragraphs in
their entirety;
(c) the copies give obvious credit to the authors, Andrew Griffin
and C.F. Harkins;
(d) the copies are in electronic form.
II. To distribute this work, or copies made under the provisions above,
provided:
(a) this is the original work and not a derivative form;
(b) you do not charge a fee for copying or for distribution;
(c) you ensure that the distributed form includes the copyright
notice, this paragraph, the disclaimer of warranty in
their entirety and credit to the authors;
(d) the distributed form is not in an electronic magazine or
within computer software (prior explicit permission may be
obtained from Andrew Griffin or C.F. Harkins);
(e) the distributed form is the newest version of the article to
the best of the knowledge of the distributor;
(f) the distributed form is electronic.
This document is for reading, not taking. You may not distribute this
work by any non-electronic media, including but not limited to books,
newsletters, magazines, manuals, catalogues, and speech. You may not
distribute this work in electronic magazines or within computer software
without prior written explicit permission. These rights are temporary
and revocable upon written, oral, or other notice by Andrew Griffin or
C.F. Harkins.
To report a suspected copyright violation, or to request additional
rights beyond those granted above, write to the either of the authors at
"andrewg@light.iinet.net.au" or "cfhark@msn.com" on the Internet.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER [1] Introduction
[1-1] Foreword and Introduction
[1-2] What this guide is NOT
[1-3] Getting the guide
[1-3-1] Usenet
[1-3-2] WWW
[1-3-3] BBS
[1-4] Contributing to the guide
[1-5] Acknowledgements
[1-6] Accuracy of Information
-SECTION ONE- GENERAL OVERVIEW
CHAPTER [2] Notes Before You Start
[2-1] Negative numbers - what's the deal?
[2-2] Determining where things go
[2-3] .ini and .mpr files
[2-4] A warning about Red Alert's parser
[2-5] Placing walls around the map
[2-5-1] Fences1.mpr file
CHAPTER [3] Glossary
[3-1] Terms used in this document
-SECTION TWO- SPECIFIC INFORMATION
CHAPTER [4] Mission File Components
[4-1] [Basic] Section
[4-2] [Map] Section
[4-3] Country Specific Information
[4-4] [STRUCTURES] Section
[4-5] [SHIPS] Section
[4-6] [INFANTRY] Section
[4-7] [UNITS] Section
[4-8] [TERRAIN] Section
[4-9] [SMUDGE] Section
[4-10] [Base] Section
[4-11] [Waypoints] Section
[4-12] [CellTriggers] Section
[4-13] [Trigs] Section
[4-13-1] Trigger Information
[4-13-2] Available Trigger Events
[4-13-3] Available Trigger Actions
[4-14] [TeamTypes] Section
[4-14-1] Available TeamType Actions
[4-15] [MapPack] Section
[4-16] [OverlayPack] Section
[4-17] [Digest] Section
[4-18] [Briefing] Section
[4-19] [Overlay] Section
CHAPTER [5] Tables
[5-1] Available Red Alert Movies
[5-2] Available Red Alert Songs
[5-3] Available Red Alert Speeches
[5-4] Available Red Alert Sound Effects
[5-5] Available Red Alert Countries
[5-6] Available Red Alert Buildings
[5-7] Available Red Alert Infantry Units
[5-8] Available Red Alert Vehicles
[5-9] Available Red Alert Aircraft
[5-10] Available Red Alert Ships
[5-11] Available Unit Formations
[5-12] Available Red Alert Special Weapons
[5-13] Available Initial Unit Commands
[5-14] Available Terrain Types
[5-15] Available Smudge Types
[5-16] Available Target Types
CHAPTER [6] Miscellaneous
[6-1] Tutorial.ini
[6-2] Mission.ini
[6-3] Red Alert Mission Tree
[6-3-1] Allied Missions
[6-3-2] Soviet Missions
[6-3-3] Ant Missions
-SECTION THREE- THEORY
CHAPTER [7] From The Lectern
[7-1] Contributing to the Lectern
[7-2] How to get units appearing out of buildings
[7-3] Changing Red Alert Values
[7-4] How to control where reinforcements come from
[7-5] How to get units to enter buildings
[7-6] Discussion on IQ Levels
[7-7] On the use of Badger Bombers
[7-8] The Global Mission Timer
[7-9] What is the Zone of a cell?
[7-10] Explaining Global Variables
[7-11] When a Building Must Be Captured, Not Destroyed
[7-12] Using your own names
[7-13] Blowing up bridges
[7-14] Advanced Editing: Just how extensible is Red Alert?
[7-15] Remote detonation - the cell of death
[7-16] Getting units to destroy bridges via teamtypes
-SECTION FOUR- APPENDICES
CHAPTER [8] Items To Fill
CHAPTER [9] Internet Resources
[9-1] Third Party Programs
[9-2] WWW Pages
CHAPTER [10] Revision History
End Contents
-------------------------
CHAPTER [1] Introduction
-------------------------
[1-1] Foreword and Introduction
================================
This document represents a significant investment of time by the two
authors, the purpose of which is to see the creation of new single player
missions for the game Red Alert. Just as there were hundreds of single
player missions created for the original Command and Conquer, we hope
that the same will be true for Red Alert.
It is a sad fact that this guide has to be created by someone other
than the company that created Red Alert, but for whatever reasons they
had, Westwood Studios decided to supply a terrain editor that could
create new multiplayer missions, but could not create new single player
missions. In order to create a new single player mission, you will use
the terrain editor to create the map, but will also be using a text
editor to do everything else.
That being said, my co-author has this to say (which I agree with, a
least to a limited extent):
I don't have a quarrel with Westwood's policy here. Their bread and
butter is making and selling maps and scenarios. After the host of bad
C&C missions that were made by independents, they should naturally be
cautious about giving the means to make RA scenarios to all and every.
Gresham's Law applies here. They did give us the Rules.ini file,
and they didn't have to do that.
There you have what are essentially the two sides to the story: if
Westwood released their information, then the good mission makers would
be able to create better missions. The flipside to this is that there
would be a lot more poor missions, making it that much harder to sift
through the dross.
The more discerning reader will notice that there are gaps in our
knowledge throughout some sections in this guide. We have made a
significant effort to work out these sections, but there is only so much
that two brains can accomplish in a finite amount of time. If you work
out what one of the missing sections pertains to, or have further
information on something that we have already commented on, then please
get in contact so that we can make this document as accurate as
possible. If you do make a submission, we ask that you test it
thoroughly.
Making single player missions for Red Alert is not easy, even if you
have some previous experience with creating new missions for Command and
Conquer. This is mainly through the increased complexity of the
triggers that you now have access to, which enable some quite
intricate activities. Yes, you can create a mission using just the
simplistic forms of triggers, but it is the opinion of this author that
this is akin to buying a car to drive up and down the driveway.
However, we do recommend that you start off by learning the basics.
Start with a blank map and just experiment until you begin to get the
feel of the way the Red Alert triggers operate.
We wish you the very best in your efforts.
And, yes, we know the title is a bit of a mouthful, but what else
could this be called? And I also know that my typing style tends to the
verbose, but in this case I do not see that as a problem. An effort has
been made to keep all lines to 74 characters or less, but in the case
where I have included sections from an external file, this may not be
possible.
[1-2] What this guide is NOT
=============================
This guide is not meant to tell you what makes a good mission; that
changes from person to person. If I start to preach about what I
feel makes a good mission, I trust you to forgive my lapse.
This guide is also not meant to make everyone into a mission making
guru. If you were good at creating single player missions for Command
and Conquer, then you are already a step ahead, as many of the actions
you must perform are the same. If you have never made a mission before
all I can say is: give it a try, you may be great at it.
This guide will also not tell you that I think story is the most
important part of any mission. Again, the two authors differ in what we
see making a good mission. To quote cfh: "I'm just a nuts-n-bolts
kill-em-all type. Plot be damned."
This guide will not become a 'how do I edit the rules.ini file?'
guide. It will address single player mission creation only.
This guide is not meant to encourage you to email us. My email policy
is based on mass recycling (which means that I delete those emails that
I have no intention of replying to). Do not contact the authors if you
want to ask how to do something with a trigger or teamtype, for you are
likely to end up on the trash heap.
Just one final note: do NOT send Andrew any of your faulty missions.
He is a grumpy fellow, and will not debug them for you.
[1-3] Getting the guide
========================
This guide will NOT be sent out by the authors via email, so don't
even bother to ask.
[1-3-1] Usenet
---------------
A pointer to the Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide will
be posted irregularly on the following newsgroups:
(1) alt.games.command-n-conq
(2) comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
Just how often this is posted depends mainly upon when new versions
are created, and also how lazy I feel. (I do not get the Red Alert
newsgroups on my news server, so can only post to them if I use
dejanews).
[1-3-2] WWW
------------
New releases of this Guide will be found at the following World-wide
Web site:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/5458/
[1-3-3] BBS
------------
I am not responsible for uploading new releases of the Red Alert
Single Player Mission Creation Guide to bulletin board systems. I have
control over neither them nor their naming conventions, and can not
guarantee that a given BBS will hold a copy of the creation guide in
their files area.
ATTENTION: All BBSes, CompuServe, America Online, and all other
information services. PLEASE conform to the naming standard of the Red
Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide when placing this file on
your system. The file name should be 'racg?.zip' where the '?' is the
revision number of the guide or 'racg?.txt' if the guide is a text file
instead of PKZIPped.
[1-4] Contributing to the guide
================================
If you have something to add to the guide, please send E-mail to
'andrewg@light.iinet.net.au' or 'cfhark@msn.com' (no quotes), explaining
your addition. It will be reviewed, and if accepted, edited and added
to the next revision of the strategy guide. In the E-mail, please
supply your name (do not rely on us to extract it from the mail
header). Please be as detailed as possible in your submission.
Please note that all submissions to the guide become property of the
authors (Andrew Griffin and C.F. Harkins) and that they may or may
not be acknowledged. By submitting to the guide, you grant permission
for use of your submission in any future publications of the guide in
any media. The authors reserve the right to omit information from a
submission or delete the submission entirely.
[1-5] Acknowledgements
=======================
Many thanks to Roger Wong for allowing me to copy the style of his Red
Alert Internet Strategy Guide.
Much gratitude to Osprey for providing some superb explanations for
part 2 of the [TeamTypes] entry, along with a lot of other information,
including the new fences1.mpr file.
The following people have provided useful information that has been
incorporated into this guide:
Gavin Pugh, Jaakko Nenonen, Guy Ulmer
[1-6] Accuracy of Information
==============================
We have made a significant effort to make sure that the information
contained within this guide is as accurate as possible. However, this
is not always possible when it comes to sections such as the teamtypes
section.
All information retrieval is subject to personal bias, and it may be
the case that the testbeds that were used in the collection of this
information introduced a bias into what we were seeing.
==============================
-SECTION ONE- GENERAL OVERVIEW
==============================
-----------------------------------
CHAPTER [2] Notes Before You Start
-----------------------------------
[2-1] Negative numbers - what's the deal?
==========================================
If you look at the original Red Alert missions, you will notice
almost immediately that the numbers used in this guide for things such
as speech items, sound effect, etc are completely different from those
used in the missions. However, on closer scrutiny, you will see that
this is, in fact, not the case. The numbers used in the original
missions are all negative numbers, those used in this guide are all
positive numbers.
To convert from the negative numbers in the original missions to the
positive numbers used in this guide, you simply do the following:
if the negative number is in the negative hundreds (ie -200, -100, -57
etc), then all you have to do is add 256 to that negative number to get
the positive number. In the rare occasions where the negative number is
is the negative 65,000 range, then you add 65536 to get the respective
positive number.
You may be wondering why we chose to use the positive numbers rather
than the negative numbers. There are two reasons for this. The first
reason is that it is simply more intuitive to use the positive numbers.
The second reason comes from a belief that I have that the use of the
negative numbers in the original mission files comes from a bug in the
Westwood mission creation program. Apparently the parser is competent
enough to deal with this error, which is a possible reason it was never
picked up. Of course, it doesn't matter one way or another, as long as
it works.
If you really want to use negative numbers, then simply subtract 256
from the numbers that we have given you. The only place you don't use
negative numbers (another reason I assume the occurance of negative
numbers is a programming bug) is where the second part of a trigger is
used to specify a specific country. In these cases, the Westwood
missions use the positive country numbers.
[2-2] Determining where things go
==================================
One of the first things you may notice is that you need to specify
cell values for a wide variety of things, but there really isn't an easy
way to get the required cell values when using the terrain editor.
There are a number of ways in which you can use the terrain editor to
provide cell values, although all but one method are work-arounds.
However, all methods require you to load up a file after you have
finished editing the map. For this reason, if you are using Windows 95,
you have a great advantage, as you can just minimise the terrain editor,
and open the required file. For users that only have MS-DOS installed
on their computers, I am afraid that you will exit the terrain editor
(and hence suffer the long load time when you want to use it again).
The easiest way to use the terrain editor to determine the numbering
of a specific cell on the map is to use the flags. When you place the
flags, you are actually creating an entry in the [Waypoints] section of
the map file. It is then very easy for you to get these cell values for
use in other regions of the ini file. However, there are unfortunately
only a limited number of flags, meaning that if you use this method that
you will have to repeatedly save the map file to get further cell
values. The color sequence of the flags is the same as the waypoint
number sequence.
The other method to get cell values is to use something else to
pin-point a cell value. This must be something that appears in a
section like [Terrain], which means trees, or a goldmine. You cannot
use things that appear as an overlay (gold, gems, walls etc), as these
are encoded into the [OverlayPack] section of the ini file. If you
decide to use this method of determining a cell's numbering, you should
do it before you place the rest of the map's terrain features (i.e. finish
the map in so far as you have all the cliffs and rivers and gold that
you want, but don't put in any trees yet). Use your personal preference
as to whether you want to use a single type of tree for this job, or
whether you want to use multiple types (personally, I find it easier to
use a single type, with a goldmine occasionally thrown in to highlight a
particular cell). Then, place these trees (or etc) around the map where
you want to place things like buildings, units, or that you just want to
specify as waypoints.
Once you have edited your ini file using these cell values to place
your structures and units, you can then edit your .mpr file to get rid
of the now superfluous terrain features.
This is the most tedious part of the whole process.
[2-3] .ini and .mpr files
==========================
When you use the supplied terrain editor to create a map, saving your
map creates a file with an .mpr extension. The name of the
file will correspond to the name you gave the map when it was created,
taking the first seven (at most) letters to create the filename. The
format of a .mpr file is the same as an .ini file, and you should use
this .mpr file as the template of your mission file. Multiplayer files
have the extension .mpr (when you use the terrain editor, you are
actually creating a multiplayer mission).
The files you will be using to create single player missions must be
given the extension .ini. These files (as do the .mpr files) have the same
format as all .ini files, in that they consist of a number of different
sections. Each section contains a heading enclosed in square brackets
(such as [England]), and consists of a number of entries, one to a line,
after that heading. A ';' (semi-colon) signifies a comment, and
everything after a ';' is ignored.
To create a single player mission, you must give your .ini file a
specific name, corresponding to the mission that you wish to replace.
See the section Red Alert Mission Tree for the internal mission numbers
(i.e. scg01ea, scg02ea etc); you take this internal mission number as the
first part of the filename, and give the file the extension .ini (so,
you will get scg01ea.ini, scg02ea.ini etc). By using the correct
filename, you are able to replace the original missions in Red Alert
with your new mission.
[2-4] A warning about Red Alert's parser
=========================================
You should be made aware that the parser Red Alert uses to read in the
.ini files is case sensitive. This means that if you have a section
called [Terrain], that you will have no trees (you must use [TERRAIN]).
Always use the exact spelling we have given in this document. A single
typo can crash this game horribly. It is best to construct the scenario
in small pieces, testing as you go. The DOS version is much
more tolerant of errors than the Windows 95 version.
[2-5] Placing walls around the map
===================================
Unfortunately, you cannot place any type of walls in the terrain
editor, at least not without some work. To place walls on a map, you
first need to copy a wall piece from one map, and paste that into your
new map.
First, open your map file that has some walls on it. Next, select the
tile that you require. You select a section of the map by left clicking
on the map - the tile will be surrounded by a white square. Now, click
the right mouse button and choose Copy from the list of choices.
Load the map you wish to place the wall section onto, and select the
spot into which you wish to place the wall section. Right click and
select Paste. You can now place the wall tiles anywhere around the map.
Do not worry that the graphics of the walls look strange (ie they do
not join up as they are supposed to do), as this will go away once the
map is loaded again. Alternatively, you can force a section of wall to
be redrawn (they will appear normally after the redraw) by placing a map
tile (usually just the blank cell) next to the wall section.
[2-5-1] Fences1.mpr file
-------------------------
For your convenience, here is a very small .mpr file that contains 6
types of walls. It contains the sandbag (SBAG), chain-link (CYCL),
concrete (BRIK), barbed-wire (BARB), wooden (WOOD) and the
normal barbed- wire (FENC) wall types. It also contains the flag
position ring and the crate types (even though these three things
are available in the terrain editor). This file has the name
fences1.mpr. In the Windows 95 terrain editor, it is smaller than the
displayed area, so you cannot scroll the map. Simply put this map into
your Red Alert directory, and copy the required fence type.
---cut here--- DO NOT INCLUDE THIS LINE!!!
[Basic]
NewINIFormat=3
Name=fences
[Map]
Theater=TEMPERATE
X=32
Y=32
Width=14
Height=14
[Waypoints]
98=4128
[MapPack]
1=CQAAIIH//v4f/4H/gB8AACCB//5ZAP+CAQD+/gD//+YLWgCCAQDXQA3+oxL/gf+ACQAAII
2=H//v4f/4H/gAkAACCB//7+H/+B/4AJAAAggQD+/h8AgQCACQAAIIEA/v4fAIEAgA==
[OverlayPack]
1=FwAAIIH//qAR/4kAAQIDBBcUFRb+VQ7/gf+ACQAAIIH//v4f/4H/gA==
---cut here--- DO NOT INCLUDE THIS LINE!!!
---------------------
CHAPTER [3] Glossary
---------------------
[3-1] Terms used in this document
==================================
The following is a list of terms that are used throughout this
document with which you may not immediately be familiar. This list is
presented so that you are able to grasp the concepts that we discuss
with as little difficulty as possible.
AI A sad joke. (sorry) Any country under computer control.
anchor cell The upper left hand corner of a structure or terrain
feature is the anchor cell. It is in this cell that you
want the upper left hand corner to be positioned.
attached Used when talking about a trigger. Triggers are said to
be attached to units or buildings when the appropriate
part of the unit or building entry has been filled with
that trigger's name.
autocreation Autocreation means that instead of a teamtype being
manually created by a Create Team trigger action, that
it will be subject to the autocreate function. Each
computer country can have its autocreation function
turned on through a trigger action, after which the
creation of the teamtypes that have autocreation turned
on will be subject to being created, at the whim of the
autocreate function. See [TeamTypes] Section for more
details.
cell A Red Alert map is really a 128x128 square. A cell is
the size of one unit of this square, so the square would
be 128x128 cells in size. See the [Waypoints] section for
a more detailed explanation of the way the map is divided
into cells.
country When we mention a country, we are talking about an
individual entity, much like real countries. They are
either controlled by the human player, or by the
computer. All units and buildings owned by a country
can only be controlled by the controller of that
country (human or computer).
expires When talking about the global timer, we say that the timer
has expired when the timer count has reached zero.
fired trigger A fired trigger is a trigger that has been activated (ie,
its firing conditions were met).
forced trigger A trigger that, on its own, cannot be fired. It can only
be fired by another trigger.
global timer Like a stop watch that works in reverse. It counts down
from a specified time until it expires. There is only one
global timer in Red Alert.
global value Consider this to be a switch, which has an On and Off
position. We say that a global value is 'set' when it is
in the On position, and that is it 'clear' when it is in
the Off position.
house See country.
IQ level How 'smart' a particular computer player is, in Red Alert
terms. See Discussion on IQ Levels for a more detailed
description on IQ levels in computer players.
full map The entire 128x128 map. This differs from the map that you
will be using for you mission, which is a subset of the
full map square.
mission map That section of the full map that you are using for your
mission. It is a subsection of the full map.
parameter A value that is being passed to some item.
player Usually referring to the human player.
team Shorthand for a teamtype.
teamtype A collection of units, whether they be vehicles, infantry,
ships, aircraft, or a mixture. It can also refer to a
line in the [TeamTypes] section.
time unit The smallest amount of time in Red Alert. This changes
depending on the speed at which you have Red Alert
running, but is 6 seconds of Red Alert time.
It is only used when talking about the duration you want
an activity to occur for, or to have some action occur
at a specified time in a mission.
trigger An action that Red Alert is to perform, either through a
computer player or independent of any player.
trigger event When talking about trigger events, we mean some [thing]
that has occurred in the Red Alert world (even something
as banal as a certain period of time passing). They are
actually tests made by Red Alert, to see if the condition
specified by the event is True.
trigger action When talking about trigger actions, we are talking about
the action that Red Alert is to take in response to a
fired trigger.
==================================
-SECTION TWO- SPECIFIC INFORMATION
==================================
------------------------------------
CHAPTER [4] Mission File Components
------------------------------------
[4-1] [Basic] Section
======================
The [Basic] section of each mission ini file contains the following
pieces of information (it doesn't have to contain all of these lines,
but these are the valid ones):
Name=
Intro=
Brief=
Win=
Lose=
Action=
Player=
Theme=
CarryOverMoney=
ToCarryOver=
ToInherit=
TimerInherit=
CivEvac=
NewINIFormat=
CarryOverCap=
EndOfGame=
NoSpyPlane=
SkipScore=
OneTimeOnly=
SkipMapSelect=
Official=
FillSilos=
TruckCrate=
Percent=
These entries will now be explained in a bit more detail.
Name=...
--------
This is used to give the mission a name.
Default=none
Intro=...
---------
This is the name of the video to play as the introduction movie to
this level. See Available Red Alert Movies for the list of possible
movie names.
A <none> means that no video is being used for the introduction movie.
The introduction movie is played first (before the briefing and
action movies).
Default = <none>
Brief=...
---------
This is the mission briefing movie for the level. See Available Red
Alert Movies for the list of possible movie names.
A <none> means that no video is being used for the briefing movie.
The briefing movie is played second (after the introduction movie but
before the action movie). If the user clicks on the mission briefing
button and presses the Video button, this is the video that gets played.
Default = <none>
Win=...
-------
This is the movie that gets shown when you win the mission. See
Available Red Alert Movies for the list of possible movie names.
A <none> means that no video is being used for the win movie.
Default = <none>
Lose=...
--------
This is the movie that gets shown when you lose the mission. See
Available Red Alert Movies for the list of possible movie names.
A <none> means that no video is being used for the lose movie.
Default = <none>
Action=...
----------
This is the name of the video to play as the action movie for this
level. See Available Red Alert Movies for the list of possible movie
names.
A <none> means that no video is being used for the action movie.
The action movie is played last (after the introduction and briefing
movies).
Default = <none>
Player=...
----------
This tells the computer which country the user will be playing as
during this mission. See Available Red Alert Countries for the listing
of available countries. This uses the full name of the country, not the
number or abbreviation.
You should have a valid Player= section in your ini file. If you do
not have a Player= entry in this section, the player will default to
Greece.
Theme=...
---------
This is the piece of music to play at the start of the mission. See
Available Red Alert Songs for the listing of available music titles to
play at the start.
An entry of 'No theme' means that there is no specific music to play
at the start of the mission, and that Red Alert should use the normal
method of choosing which music to play.
Default=none
CarryOverMoney=...
------------------
This specifies that amount of money that will carry over to the mext
mission when you finish the current one. 1 stands for 100% of money, 0.5
stands for 50%, etc.
ToCarryOver=...
---------------
If 'yes', units and structures at the (victorious) close of this
mission will appear at the start of the next mission where
"ToInherit=yes". They will appear in the exact position and state of
health they where left at the end of the mission. Activities will not
carry over. Guard and harvest seem to be the defaults. Aircraft in
flight will vanish.
ToInherit=...
-------------
If set to 'yes', see ToCarryOver (above).
TimerInherit=...
----------------
This can have the value 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'yes', the timer for this mission should start counting
down from where it ended in the previous mission. Furthermore, as soon
as the mission starts, the timer will be activated.
When set to 'no', the counter is not transferred from the last mission.
This value only needs to be set to 'yes' in the mission that is to
have its time carried over to the next mission. The next mission should
have this set to 'no', unless the timer for that mission is also to be
carried over.
CivEvac=...
-----------
This can have the value 'yes' and 'no'.
When 'no', it means that transport helicopters do not take off when
'civilian' units are loaded into them, unless there is a trigger for
this action.
When set to 'yes', transport helicopters will take off once 'civilian'
units are loaded into them.
This should actually be called 'TanyaEvac', as the only noticable
difference when this is set to 'yes' is that the transport helicopter
will take off when a Tanya unit enters. If set to 'no', the transport
helicopter will not take off when a Tanya unit enters.
'Civilian' units does include the GNRL unit.
NewINIFormat=...
----------------
If this item is not present with a valid value, the [Trigs] and
[TeamTypes] sections will not be read. 0 is not valid. 3 is always
used, and is the value inserted by Red Alert's terrain editor, which
suggests it also has something to do with either the overlays
(OverlayPack) or the map (MapPack)
Setting NewINIFormat to 1 or 2 allows the use of the [Overlay]
section rather than [OverlayPack]. At setting 1 the [Trigs] section
will not be read.
CarryOverCap=...
----------------
Related to "CarryOverMoney", it specifies the maximum amount of money
that can be carried over from the previous mission. As with the Credits
entry, you multiply this value by 100 to get the real value.
EndOfGame=...
-------------
This can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'yes', when the player has won the mission, after they
see the Win video, they get to see the Red Alert credits, and after
that are taken back to the main menu. The use of 'yes' for this item
signifies that the campaign is finished.
When set to 'no', the next mission is played, as usual.
NoSpyPlane=...
--------------
This can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'no', if the player has an airfield and a sufficiently
high techlevel, then they will be able to use the spy plane.
When set to 'yes', the spy plane will not appear on the side bar, even
if the player has a sufficiently high techlevel. The setting also
affects the AI.
SkipScore=...
-------------
This can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'no', the player is treated to the score screen when he
finishes the mission, where he will see how well he did in that
mission (units killed, money finished with etc).
When set to 'yes', the player does not get this score screen.
OneTimeOnly=...
---------------
This can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'yes', after the mission is won by the player, they are
taken back to the main menu, as if they had finished the entire
campaign. This value does not mean that if the mission is failed that
it cannot be retried - the player still gets the option to retry the
mission if they fail.
When set to 'no', winning the mission takes the player to the next
mission in the campaign, as usual (if possible).
SkipMapSelect=...
-----------------
This can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'no', after the user has finished a mission, they are
given the map of Europe and have to pick one of the flashing boxes for
their next mission.
When set to 'yes', the user does not see the map of Europe. Instead,
Red Alert loads up the next mission FOR THAT LEVEL. This is very
important: if the player just finished scg05ea, then scg05eb will be
loaded, not scg06ea. Note that you can do this even for those levels
that only have a single 'official' mission, eg there is only 1 Soviet
level 1 mission, but if you have an scu01eb.ini file present and this
value set to 'yes', then level scu01eb will be started immediately after
scu01ea is finished. However, it doesn't appear that you can chain
these indefinitely. Adding an scu01ec.ini file didn't work - I would
guess that the only place where a third would be accepted would be
Allied mission 5, where there are already 3 missions (scg05ea eb and
ec).
It would be an unwise thing to have this set for an 'ea' mission if
the map before gave the player a choice of playing either an 'ea' or
'eb' mission, as they may choose the 'eb' mission, hence by-passing the
first stage of the mission and possibly screwing up your storyline. See
Red Alert Mission Tree for the 'official' mission tree structure.
A side effect of setting this to 'yes' is that the player does not get
the 'Mission Accomplished' text on the screen - it just goes straight to
the win video (if there is one).
Official=...
------------
This is always set to 'yes' in the original Red Alert missions.
Giving it a value of 'no' does not seem to have any effect.
FillSilos=...
-------------
This item can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'yes', any country that has silos will have any starting
money they have placed in the silos, rather than starting with those
silos empty. This is useful if you want the player/computer to use
thieves at the very start of a mission, before the first harvester can
come in.
When set to 'no', the silos start empty at the beginning of the
mission.
TruckCrate=...
--------------
This item can be set to 'yes' or 'no'.
When set to 'yes', when a convoy truck (TRUK) is destroyed, it leaves
behind a crate with money in it (a WoodCrate, if you want to change what
is in the crate). Even trucks owned by the player drop crates when
destroyed if this is set to 'yes'.
When set to 'no', a destroyed convoy truck does not drop a crate.
Percent=...
-----------
[4-2] [Map] Section
====================
The [Map] section of the mission's ini file tells Red Alert the size
and shape of the map that you are using. It also tells Red Alert which
tile set to use. For a detailed description of cells and what the full
map looks like, please read the section on Waypoints. The following is
a typical [Map] entry:
[Map]
Theater=SNOW
X=32
Y=32
Width=64
Height=64
Each section of the entry will be described below:
Theater=
--------
This tells Red Alert which tile set to use. The possible choices are
SNOW, TEMPERATE and INTERIOR. The three choices are self-explanatory in
terms of the tile set they represent.
Please note: the INTERIOR tile set is not used in Red Alert's terrain
editor, and if you change the Theater to INTERIOR and try to load up
that map in the terrain editor, the editor will crash.
X=
--
This tells Red Alert how far away from the left edge of the full map
the mission map starts. This must always be at least 1. The distance
is the number of cells from the edge.
Y=
--
This tell Red Alert how far away from the top edge of the full map the
mission map starts. This must always be at least 1. The distance is
the number of cells from the edge.
Width=
------
This tells Red Alert the width of the mission map (in cells). This
width plus the X value plus 1 must NOT be more than 128.
Height=
-------
This tells Red Alert the height of the mission map (in cells). This
height plus the Y value plus 1 must NOT be more than 128.
Each map must have at least a 1 cell buffer around the edge of the
mission map. This means that X and Y must always have the value of at
least 1, and that Width and Height must always have a value no greater
than 126. Note that while 126x126 maps are possible, Red Alert does not
handle them well.
[4-3] Country Specific Information
===================================
For each country you have in your missions, whether they be in
control of a large base or make a cameo role as a single civilian
infantry unit, you should include some information about that country,
even if it is nothing more than the allies of that country.
To include country specific information into your ini file, you first
take the name of a country (the full name), see Available Red Alert
Countries for this information, and place it within square brackets,
such as [Spain], [Ukraine] and [England] for example.
Under each of these headers, you then add the information that you
want to pertain to that country.
The available pieces of information that you can include as country
specific information seem to be the following (given through an example
of a complete entry):
[Greece]
Credits=12
Edge=South
MaxUnit=50
MaxInfantry=50
MaxBuilding=10
MaxVessel=10
TechLevel=10
IQ=3
Allies=USSR,Turkey
PlayerControl=yes
Firepower=1.0
Groundspeed=1.0
Airspeed=1.0
Armor=1.0
ROF=1.0
Cost=1.0
BuildTime=1.0
These will now be explained in more detail:
Credits