[MOD] RA Classic - a Red Alert 1 inspired mod

Information and discussion for custom maps and mods.
Post Reply
Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

[MOD] RA Classic - a Red Alert 1 inspired mod

Post by Iran »

Introduction

RA Classic is a multiplayer mod for OpenRA (using a modified version of the engine) that tries to resemble the gameplay and feel of Red Alert 1 (with all the expansions and 3.03 patch installed) closely. It has the following objectives:

- Have the same building and unit settings and behavior as Red Alert 1 e.g., cost, speed, strength, rof, etc..
- Port over all the RA1 maps.
- Have at least one decent AI to play against.
- Have the in-game HUD resemble the Red Alert 1 one as close as possible.
- Have the menus resemble Red Alert 1's look and feel, including ordering, as closely as possible.
- Have engine features that are the same as Red Alert 1's or similar to it, e.g. no fog of war, multiple factories speed up production, left click to select, etc..

What has been done

I currently have a modified OpenRA engine with the following chances:
- fog of war has been removed (but NOT the shroud)
- Classic C&C mouse control scheme, left click to select, right click to de-select.

In addition I've forked the code for the RA mod that comes with OpenRA to introduce the following changes/additions:
- Multiple factories speed up production
- Better AI

Most of the unit/building behavior and settings has been transferred from the Red Alert 1 'rules.ini' file, though I still need to spend a few hours transferring the remaining settings.

I've integrated a RA1 maps map made by someone into the game, but some still crash because of bugs and more RA1 maps need to be converted as the pack doesn't contain all RA1 maps.

AI

I've worked on the AI for the last three days, based on code by others. At this point the AI is still very rudimentary but the core features have been implemented.

The AI was based on ValkirieAI/BetaAI by Valkirie and HackyAI which JamesDunne, Earthpig, Mart0258, Mailaender and Chrisforbes have worked on.

Additionally Chris Forbes (chrisf) fixed a lag spike issue with the building placement code if no build space could be found.

To-do for the first alpha

Before I release a first alpha, which I intend to be quick-and-dirty to allow interested individuals to play test the mod, the following things still need to be done:

- Convert the remaining Red Alert 1 unit/building behavior and settings.
- Improve the AI.
- Change the main menu screen and maybe the load screen.

Why this mod?

My main reasons for creating this mod are to have a open-sourceRA1 clone of sorts within (a modified) OpenRA engine, as to:

- To preserve Red Alert 1 in a sense.
- Improve on the Red Alert 1 engine as the source is available for this mod.
- To get fans of classic C&C games interested in the OpenRA engine project and community.
- To provide a base for mods that want to implement a mod based on classic C&C gameplay and behavior.

Misc

Github: https://github.com/Iran/ClassicRA/

Teasers

WIP AI:
Last edited by Iran on Wed Oct 10, 2012 2:53 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

If anyone is interested in helping out, please volunteer in this thread. Possible things that can be done are:

- Helping me convert the unit/building settings from RA1's rules.ini. (but this is mostly done)
- Help out with converting the remaining RA1 maps.
- Help out with testing, though testing will start at a later date.
- Help out with coding.

I'll start working on modifying the game menus and HUD (in-game sidebar etc) to better resemble RA1, I'm looking for info into this topic or mods that have done parts of this.

User avatar
BaronOfStuff
Posts: 438
Joined: Sun May 22, 2011 7:25 pm

Post by BaronOfStuff »

I'll mess around with the rules.ini and map conversions if it'll give you time to work on stuff I'd have no idea about (AI improvement). I assume that we'll also want to use the mplayer.ini defs for Turrets and other tweaks that were made for Multiplayer/Skirmish games too?

I thought about doing something like this a while back, but I'm lazy and gave up after not being able to think of a way to get the Mammoth Tank to only use one weapon type on any given target...

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

I'll work on the remaining conversions from RA1 rules.ini, I totally forgot about mplayer.ini so I'll add the mplayer.ini changes too.

If you want to help with converting maps that would be appreciated, I'm currently using the map pack from:

http://www.sleipnirstuff.com/forum/view ... 83&t=15400

The author attached a list of all the original RA1 map files so you don't need to extract them yourself before converting. Note that with the conversion the player spawns might have an additional glitched spawns as noted in the thread, there's also an issue with an ice something tile which openRA doesn't have, so if a map with that tile is loaded the game crashes (though it works in the editor apparently).

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

Interestingly Aftermath RE-modifies the modified mplayer.ini value, with a comment about it from Westwood in aftermath.ini:

Code: Select all

; This needs to be re-set from its modified mplayer.ini values
[TurretGun]
Burst=1
Damage=40
ROF=50
Range=6
Projectile=Cannon
Speed=40
Warhead=AP
Report=TURRET1
Anim=GUNFIRE
I'm not sure why, I'll go with the mplayer.ini values though as the Allies are pretty weak overall.

Matt
Posts: 1144
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:21 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Matt »


Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

Actually it looks like mplayer.ini nerfs the Allies more so I'm not sure about including the changes, although I did add all of them.

@Cmd. Matt: Thanks, I'll take a look at it. BTW did you modify any of the menu/HUD/sidebar code for OpenD2k?

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

That patch helps but after applying it, the game will still crash because the ice tiles have no sequences. I fixed it by adding the following to sequences.yaml, but I don't know if these values are correct:

Code: Select all

ice01:
	idle:
		Start: 0
		
ice02:
	idle:
		Start: 0

ice03:
	idle:
		Start: 0

ice04:
	idle:
		Start: 0

ice05:
	idle:
		Start: 

Matt
Posts: 1144
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:21 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Matt »

Iran wrote: @Cmd. Matt: Thanks, I'll take a look at it. BTW did you modify any of the menu/HUD/sidebar code for OpenD2k?
No, it is just a reskinned version of the ra mod chrome with few changes in yaml.

Matt
Posts: 1144
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:21 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Matt »

Iran wrote: That patch helps but after applying it, the game will still crash because the ice tiles have no sequences. I fixed it by adding the following to sequences.yaml, but I don't know if these values are correct:

Code: Select all

ice01:
	idle:
		Start: 0
		
ice02:
	idle:
		Start: 0

ice03:
	idle:
		Start: 0

ice04:
	idle:
		Start: 0

ice05:
	idle:
		Start: 
Damn it.

Have a look at https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/blob/b ... yaml#L2158

Code: Select all

ice01:
	idle:
		Start: 0
		Length: *

...
should do it. Please submit a patch to OpenRA to fix this crash.

psydev
Posts: 84
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:49 am

Post by psydev »

Sweet! This will let me resume work on my C&C classic mod (decided to suspend work until Fog of War and other issues were resolved). Even though I believe in making it as 'classic' as possible, I still like the idea of the option of Fog+No Shroud, in addition to No Fog+Shroud.

Why are you changing the AI? Do you think we could have a "classic" AI that applies to both C&C and Red Alert classic?

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

@Cmd. Matt: I'll try out those sequence changes, thanks!. How do I submit a patch? Has been a while since I used Git and I wasn't really good at it. I'll get my mod on Github tomorrow hopefully.

@psydev: Thanks for the feedback! If you want to help me out or have anything to contribute from your classic C&C mod, share it if you like. I'm changing the AI as the current AI (called HackyAI) is pretty terrible.

I think it should be possible to have classic AI as it was pretty simple, but my AI is a bit more complicated, e.g. it uses ships and every unit is added to all kinds of different 'squads' which have their own roles and behavior.

Matt
Posts: 1144
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 12:21 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Matt »

Iran wrote: @Cmd. Matt: I'll try out those sequence changes, thanks!. How do I submit a patch? Has been a while since I used Git and I wasn't really good at it. I'll get my mod on Github tomorrow hopefully.
Those small fixes can be contributed via the web-interface. Go to https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/blob/b ... ences.yaml and hit edit. Then copy and paste your changes.

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

Thanks will do that in a bit.

After a conversation with a Red Alert 1 player it appears mplayer.ini gets used after the Aftermath expansion is installed, either during skirmish or online play.

Edit: Need to be signed in to Github to edit the file, so I'll do that tomorrow I'll guess. Changing the sequences like that works.

Iran
Posts: 92
Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:16 pm

Post by Iran »

I placed the project on Github!

https://github.com/Iran/ClassicRA/

Post Reply