Modding help needed!
I´m not new to games in general, but to CnC and especially CnC modding I am.
I´m hoping someone could tell me how to access the unit and building models and data so I can mod the existing units and create new ones, maybe bring in buildings and stuff from other CnC games to complement those found in RA3, I think especially the building selection in worldbuilder needs more buildings. Also it would be great to create a mod with new factions and new units. I have plenty of ideas for new units and superweapons etc., all I need is comrades to help make it a reality.
In order to make a unit you need a 3d model of the unit, sound and visual effects for shooting etc. someone to do voice acting for the unit (ask a friend) etc. etc. All in all its a team effort, but IT CAN BE DONE.
If anyone wants to team up with me to make a mod I´m interested, send me a message and tell me of your ideas.
Here are a few ideas from me:
Infantry upgrade: Nanotech healing robots; small nanotech robots injected into the bloodstream to repair damage, makes units tougher and able to heal.
Antimatter super weapon; Some sort of antimatter launcher or a bomb dropped by a plane, explodes VERY spectacularly (need someone to make the visual effects)
Molecular disruptor tech: destroys molecular bonds breaking everything into its component parts, very messy, requires good visual effects etc.
Holzmann effect shields etc.: This tech is from Frank Herbert´s Dune (If you´ve played Dune 2000 or those games) Energy shields which stop anything fast moving (bullets etc.) only allowing slow moving objects to penetrate (a knife for example, "the slow blade penetrates the shield", that´s why in the Dune series all combat is knife based except for lasguns which cause a fusion explosion when reacting with the shields, causing both the shield and the gun to explode destroying both. (a suicidal tactic to use lasguns)
Deflector shields: this is from Star Trek, everyone knows how shields work.
Rod from God superweapon: This is real life future tech. A heavy metal rod (the size of a telephone pole) is dropped from orbit and GPS guided to its target impacting at orbital velocity and causing an explosion similar to a small tactical nuclear warhead (no radiation though). Requires proper visual effects, but promises to be spectacular.
Other ideas can be taken from movies and books. How about Terminator style soldiers and super commandos (the Paradox mod team already made the Venus which resembles very much like the T-X Terminator by the description of it)
One interesting faction could be taken from CnC Generals, the Global Liberation Army (the terrorists). You could of course name them just the Al Quaida faction, but they might be very interesting to play. This faction would have little or no heavy equipment at all, but plenty of underhanded tricks in their arsenal. Hijackers, saboteurs, assassins, angry mobs, armed civilian cars, dirty bombs etc. etc.
Lots and lots of new techs. One of the key aspects of the game is the race for better technology, this should be amplified by adding lots of new technologies. It would even be possible to make a tech victory possible by researching some sort of super tech (which would take a very long time to build and costs a LOT.) which would give the faction a superior edge over the others so much that all efforts to resist would be futile after that, forcing the others to surrender after the tech is complete.
One victory style could be a Wonder building like in the Age of Empires, you build a super building and guard it for 30 minutes and after that you win. In CnC it could be a massive super weapon of some sort.
Economic victory could also be considered, if you control all the money, you win by holding the world economy in your hands.
More economic buildings, like a factory that churns out cash in small intervals, producing a steady income for the player after the ore mines are destroyed. In C&C generals the terrorists have the Black Market building which gives money and the Chinese can hack the internet for cash. Similar things could be brought to RA3.
One thing would be to make ALL units have limited ammo, so your armies would have to bring along supply trucks to reload them or fall back to base to rearm, after all, no infantryman can carry an unlimited load of ammo. Tanks too would be less fearsome if they would run out of ammo in time.
You could also add officer units to the game which would give bonuses to units around them and maybe give a cash bounty to enemy if they are killed ( so guard your officers)
Unit behavior could also be modified, like the infantry going prone and crawling on the ground when under fire ( they would take less damage then) and all infantry could have the option of digging in to make them tougher.
You could also add civilians to the maps which would go around the maps and would allow certain units to blend in and camouflage themselves as civilians in order to slip past the defences.
All in all theres a lot of things you could do if you can assemble a team with some talents, everyone can do something and if you don´t know how to do something you can learn, even the professionals who made the game started from scratch and learned their skills, you get better over time.
But now I would like to know how I can access the graphics files and other things in the game. In what files are they contained? Are they in the .big files or are they in the .game files? That and of course how to open and extract them so I can work with the models and stuff.
EDIT: I managed to open and extract some .big files and they contain .bin files and .manifest files etc. how do I open those? .bin files should be CD or DVD image files but my virtual cd drive doesn´t read anything when I mount one? Anyone have any answers?
Thank you for your help.
Cheers from Finland!
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