-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= GENERAL.MIX: SOME BASIC EDITING INFORMATION Revision 3 12 Nov, 1995. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This paper deals with editing the file 'general.mix' so that you can edit the mission scenarios and maps that come with Command and Conquer. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Preliminary general.mix editing notes: (buggy@adam.com.au) All these abbreviations were found in the game.dat file. I didn't work out each one by trial and error :) Available Unit Abbreviations (entered as vehicles in general.mix) ---------------------------- VICE viceroid FTNK flame tank STNK stealth tank LTNK light tank MTNK medium tank HTNK mammoth tank MHQ mobile HQ (*1) LST hovercraft (*2) MLRS Nod SSM ARTY mobile artillery HARV harvester MCV MCV (*3) JEEP Humm-Vee BGGY Nod buggy BIKE recon bike MSAM rocket launcher APC APC BOAT gunboat (*4) TRIC triceratops (*5) TREX tyrannosaurus rex (*5) RAPT velociraptor (*5) STEG stegosaurus (*5) *1 This is a unit I haven't seen before. Has a little radar thing on the top (no effect), but has no weapon. Does nothing that is apparent. [NEW: just received word that you get this when playing capture the flag and specify vehicles only] *2 Can't control these. It moves south after a while. *3 Changing a vehicle to an MCV allows you to build a base in missions where you normally aren't allowed to. *4 Haven't tried putting this in. Wonder if you can control it or if it can move over land. [NEW: you can't control where it goes; it just moves to the left until it leaves the screen, then moves right. You can control where it shoots. It takes no account of what it passes over (can pass over units, hills, buildings, everything without doing anything [doesn't squash infantry]). *5 Dinosaurs. No apparent graphics except for their death animations. [NEW: there are some multiplayer maps with the theme: Untamed Land that have dinosaurs in them. Haven't played MP C&C yet, so don't know if we can play these maps.] [NEW: can't play these missions] There are 4 'houses': GDI, NOD, CIV and JP. These are represented by: GoodGuy, BadGuy, Neutral and Special. NEW: You can set vehicles to be of house Special or Civilian, and if you are not allies with them (in the Allies field), your troops will attack them, and they will attack you. So, it may be possible to have 3 different computer opponents on the same map (ally them all, or not) and try that. A bit later I'll try and set up a Special base with a weapons factory and see if it does anything. NEW: If you set player=Special, instead of the gdi/nod symbol that you would see in the upper right corner, you get a dinosaur's head. Playing as Special allows you to build (from what I've seen) both nod and gdi equipment. Setting player=Neutral will probably give you a different logo graphic, and should allow you to control any civilians on the map. Available Infantry Abbreviations (in the [Infantry] section of general.mix) -------------------------------- E1 minigunner infantry E2 grenade infantry E3 rocket infantry E4 flamethrower infantry E5 chem warrior E6 engineer RMBO commando (*1) C1 } C2 } C3 } C4 } C5 } (*2) C6 } C7 } C8 } C9 } C10 } Special Infantry ---------------- Moebius } Delphi } (*3) Chan } *1 RMBO is obviously short for Rambo and represents the commando, although I haven't tried this out. [NEW: yes it is for the commando] *2 These would have to be the civilians (there are 10 different types?). Again, haven't tried these. [NEW: yep, these are the civilians.] If you have player=neutral, if you sell a building, you get technicians, not minigunners. So, some of these entries may be for the technicians. *3 The important people encountered (to kill/save) in C&C. All these abbreviations were found in the game.dat file. I haven't tested them all out (naturally), mainly focussing on the vehicles. The MLRS is the nod SSM (what a slow reload time!) which is a bit strange as in the manual I have, the rocket launcher is caled the MLRS. Available Building Abbreviations (in the [STRUCTURES] section) -------------------------------- TMPL Temple of Nod (*1) EYE Advanced Communication Centre (*2) WEAP Weapons Factory GTWR Guard Tower ATWR Advanced Guard Tower OBLI Obelisk of Light GUN Gun Turret FACT Construction Site PROC Refinery SILO Silo HPAD Helipad (*3) HQ Communication Centre SAM SAM site AFLD Airfield NUKE Power plant NUK2 Advanced Power plant HOSP Hospital (*4) BIO Biotechnology Laboratory (*4) PYLE Barracks HAND Hand of Nod ARCO Civilian Building (*5) FIX Repair Bay V01 } : } (*6) V37 } MISS Technology Centre (*4) *1 You can't get the nuclear missle just by building this. There is obviously a check to see whether you can use the nuke. *2 You can use the Ion Cannon by giving yourself this building. It does seem to matter at which level you give it to yourself. More than likely you can only play around with it in the last few levels. *3 Don't know if this comes with a helicopter or not if you start with it. *4 The special buildings that you encounter throughout C&C. They do nothing for you. *5 Just gives the title 'Civilian Building' when the cursor is over it. Looks like no other civilian building however. *6 These are almost certainly the civilian buildings (they are in the correct place for them). Sometimes just changing a building to a construction yard doesn't let you build things in that mission. Give yourself an MCV instead - that always works. There is obviously another entry somewhere associated with this. Available Fence Abbreviations (in the [OVERLAY] section) ----------------------------- SBAG Sandbag CYCL Chainlink (cyclone fence) BRIK Concrete (brick wall) BARB Barbed wire WOOD Wooden fence Another one may be CONC. Maybe a concrete wall? (if so, what's the difference to the brik walls?) Other Overlay Abbreviations (in the [OVERLAY] section) --------------------------- TI1 - TI12 tiberium WCRATE a wooden crate (*1) SCRATE a steel crate (*1) *1 There has to be some other item that controls what goes in these crates. Other Parts of the File ----------------------- All this information is stored as text, which makes it a bit easier to read and guess at what it does. The beginning of each section is marked by a title in [..]'s. Some are [BASIC], [MAP], [UNITS] etc. [BASIC] seems to come first - there is certain to be a definite order in which it is decoded. Stuff in [BASIC]: CarryOverCap no idea, always seems to be -1 CarryOverMoney the percentage of the money from the previous mission you get to keep? Intro the video that gets played as an introduction to the mission BuildLevel just an internal representation for the level number (I think) Theme only for multiplayer maps Percent no idea Lose the video that gets played if you lose the mission Player which side you are (GoodGuy, BadGuy, Neutral or Special) Brief the briefing video that gets played Action the video that gets played right before the mission (such as the parachute drop or hovercraft landing) Win the video played when you win Stuff in [MAP]: TacticalPos Height definitely the height of the map - will probably screw up if changed without editing the map Width as above, but for the width Theatre which graphics file to use - desert, temperate or winter. Y, X ??? Then comes [GoodGuys], [BadGuys], [Neutral] and [Special] They contain: FlagHome for multiplayer games? FlagLocation for multiplayer games? MaxBuildings max. number of buildings that can exist for that side at the same time? Allies the people who you don't attack - explains why GDI sometimes attack the civilians in some missions. MaxUnits max. number of units that can exit for that side at the same time? Quota no idea at all. Credits amount of money you start with (multiply by 100 to get amount) Maximum amount of money you can have is 1,000,000. Edge no idea? where you start? maybe edge of the country map to click to play this scenario? Other entries include: [UNITS], [STUCTURES], [TERRAIN], [WAYPOINTS] and many others. [STRUCTURES] contains the information about the vehicles that are already in the game. They have a number of fields: A number to specify the building, then Name, then Type, then Hit points (256 gives them max hit points, anything lower means they are damaged), then Location Then another few fields which I don't know about. The final field is whether a trigger is set for this structure. Usually it is set to 'None', but things like SAM sites usually have triggers for them. It is the given name of the trigger in [TRIGGERS] Working out the location value ------------------------------ Location is stored as a single value, not as (x,y) coordinates. Use the Width and Height fields to work out roughly where it will turn up. The numbering starts in the upper left hand corner. To work out where (x,y) it will appear: y = abs[(location)] ---------- (height) x = location - (y * width) Where abs is the absolute (integer) value of the division (eg. 3.XXX is 3, 28.899 is 28). [UNITS] is stored in the following manner: A number to specify the unit, Which side they belong to, Type, Hit points, Location, Heading information, Current action (guard, hunt etc), The final field is the trigger name associated with this unit. Usually there is a 'None' there, but occasionally it has a trigger. [OVERLAY] contains information like what type of fences are there. See "Available Fence Abbreviations" for the available types. It just contains the location (see above to find where it will appear), then the type of overlay it is. Also contains the location of crates. Crate types that work so far are WCRATE and SCRATE. I don't know if they have set contents or not. [TERRAIN] These are the terrain abbreviations that I've seen: T01 - T18 SPLIT2, SPLIT3 TC01 - TC05 ROCK1 - ROCK 7 Actions (for unit and infantry information) ------- These are what I think are the available abbreviations (I haven't tested these, they come straight out of game.dat: (note that some have '.'s at the end) None Attack Base Attack Units Attack Civil. Rampage Defend Base Move Move to Cell Retreat Guard Loop Attack Tarcom no idea what this is for. Unload [TRIGGERS] starts with the name given to that trigger (such as airs, los1). Then is has what the trigger is, and what the action of the trigger will be. Then there are some other entries which I haven't worked out. Triggers -------- Again, these are what I think are the triggers that are available. I Haven't tested them: (note that some have '.'s at the end) None Player Enters you start the mission??? Discovered unit or structure is discovered Attacked unit or structure is attacked Destroyed unit or structure is destroyed Any House Discov. the base is discovered Units Destr. Bldgs Destr. All Destr. opponent wiped out Credits Time set to some time interval # Bldgs Dstr. # Units Dstr. No Factories Civ. Evac. the civilians have been evacuated (used in a GDI mission) Build It you have to build a certain structure (such as a SAM site for that early NOD mission) Trigger Actions --------------- Again, I haven't tested out changing these, they are just out of the game.dat file, and from what I can see from the general.mix file. I have no idea what most of these are about. None Win you win the mission Lose you lose the mission Production Create Team used to create an attack team (I think) Dstry Teams All to Hunt Reinforce sends in some reinforcements (in [REINFORCEMENT] section) DZ at 'Z' sends a helicopter to the drop zone??? Airstrike gives you airstrike capabilities for the rest of the mission Nuclear Missile gives you the nuke???? Ion Cannon gives you the ion cannon??? Dstry Trig 'XXXX' Dstry Trig 'YYYY' Dstry Trig 'ZZZZ' Autocreate Cap=Win/Des=Lose probably for the buildings that you have to capture in some missions (such as prison). Allow Win [CellTriggers] associates a trigger with a square on the map. The format is simply a square location (see formula above) = the trigger name. How to get early airstrikes --------------------------- Whan you play as GDI, it is usually only towards the end that you get to use airstrikes as you have to get rid of the SAM sites. Here is a way to make it so that you can get them earlier. (one way of many, just a little easier than some others as it doesn't change any offsets). For that level, edit the triggers for the SAM sites so they read 'None'. They should be set to a trigger such as 'airs' (have a look at the triggers to see what name was given to the airstrike). This means that you no longer have to destroy the SAM sites to get the airstrikes. HOWEVER, you now have to put the trigger onto another item. Put this onto a vehicle (or infantry) that is easy to kill. Change the 'None' trigger to 'airs' (or whatever was in the SAM trigger), and when you have killed that unit, you get airstrikes. To get them really early, put the trigger on one of your own units and then kill that unit at the very start. After this information comes the map. The maximum map size is 64x64 squares (4096 cells). Each cell is represented by 2 bytes. It is a simple 2 dimensional array. Note that is the map being played on is usually smaller than this, with the rest of the entries being normal land entries. A value of 0x00ff means that that cell is just a simple land square. There is a 1 cell buffer around the edge (meaning that the maximum playable map width and height is actually 62). Information in the map includes: water squares, land squares, river crossings (both bridges and fjords), cliff faces ... [add some more]