1946. Mankind has just suffered one of the most brutal wars it ever faced. While the rest of the world is still rebuilding, a scientist of unmatched genius by the name of Albert Einstein decides to act. With a device he was engineering at a secret research center in Trinity, New Mexico, he travels back in time to kill the person who he sees as the root of all misery: Adolf Hitler. He catches up with Hitler in 1926 and disposes of him without thoroughly considering the consequences, as time will soon tell.

It's now the 1950s. World War II never happened -- at least, not yet. Germany remains a peace-loving country with close ties to other European nations, now facing increased tensions with Russia under Josef Stalin's rule. In order to realize the glorious Marxist dream he has envisioned, Stalin mobilizes the forces of the USSR. His goal? The conquest of Europe. The nations under threat form the Alliance that seeks to put an end to this madman's nightmare before he can see to its completion. The Great World War II has begun.

  • Steamroll over Europe with the high-powered arsenal of the Soviets or repel the invasion with the technological superiority and cunning of the Allied Forces in a team-based FPS inspired by Westwood Studios' hit real-time strategy game, C&C Red Alert.
  • Wage warfare on the land and in air with units ranging from Mammoth Tanks and Chinooks to Phase Tanks and Longbows.
  • Pacifist? Repair your base as an Engineer, support the war effort as a Medic or Mechanic, or infiltrate the enemy stronghold and steal intelligence or assets with Spies and Thieves.
  • Timed and tuned Tech Levels unlock progressively more powerful weapons and vehicles as the match progresses. Early infantry skirmishes give way to full combined-arms conflict, with high-tech war vehicles including the stealthy Phase Tank, nuclear Demolition Truck, and high-voltage Tesla Tank!



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Zama Soviet Base Zama Allied Base Proxy Objects in 3DS Max
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3 comments by ChopBam on Jun 4th, 2013

New Naval Logic
After a long hiatus, there have been reports of Soviet submarine sightings along the coast.

Submarine

Many of you will remember our older implementation of ships and submarines. There are some key changes that have been made to the logic for ships and submarines. Let's examine just a few of them.

  • LSTs can now drive up on the shore and through shallow waters, giving them more terrain accessibility than the gunboat and her big brother, the destroyer. It is much easier to enter and exit your naval transport without having to worry about falling into the ocean!
  • For mapmakers, there are new building controllers and script zones for the spawning of naval units. Dave's Arrows are no longer required to spawn them; rather, the naval construction zones themselves do the job. This makes it less tedious for any future mappers who want to add shipyards to their maps.
  • Empty Helicopters will no longer sit on top of the water. They will probably sink to the bottom and be destroyed.
  • In older versions, Helicopters would be arbitrarily blocked if they were flying low over shorelines, due to the way the ship blockers worked. With our changes to the way collision works on certain meshes, this should no longer be an issue.

And while we're on the subject of helicopters...

Helicopter Refill Pads
Chronojam mentioned in a previous blog that we will be implementing new refill pads for multiple helicopters to refill simultaneously. They are not required to be destroyed for a team to win the game on a map where base-destruction is the objective, and they do not let you build helicopters. Helipads themselves will still be serving the same purpose as before. If your helipad is destroyed, however, you will still be able to refill your helicopter, provided one of these guys is still alive.

They are now functional ingame. Here is what they look like, mid-animation:

Refill Pad

And here is a video preview of how they behave ingame:

Youtube.com

Building Adjustments

  • Building Interiors Converted to 3DS Max

All our building interiors, which were previously available only in the dreaded gmax format, are now fully available in 3DS Max for the mapper's editing pleasure! I will see what I can do to get these included in the next SDK release.

  • Ladders

Most of our buildings now have ladders, which make their rooftops accessible. This will eliminate the need for the "no transition zones," which were used previously to keep players from exiting their helicopters and exploiting the rooftops to give themselves an unfair advantage.

It also provides extra tactical routes and strategic paths of attack and escape. Whoever is taking care of mine laying on the Soviet team may need to pay extra attention to the bases of ladders!

Additionally, standing on the top of a roof can give you a nice view of things in the distance, if you need to scout.

Here are a couple shots of the building modifications that come with ladders.

Building LaddersBuilding Ladders
Building Ladders
  • Shatterable Glass

This topic has been touched upon in a General Discussion poll about War Factory glass. If you haven't seen it, make sure you check it out!

  • Targetable Building Parts

Small doors, big doors, elevators, cranes, you name it! You can now damage buildings when you shoot at these parts.

Targetable Building PartsTargetable Building PartsTargetable Building Parts
Targetable Building PartsTargetable Building Parts

Even that big missile silo door is targetable now. What started out as seeming like a simple fix actually turned out to require a whole new missile silo controller from Tiberian Technologies.

Targetable Building Parts

It's about time!

  • Proxies

Our buildings are now entirely proxied on maps. Any mapper will know what this means, but I'll explain it for the laypeople whose attention I somehow still have.

I'll explain it only within the confines of our w3d project. A proxy is an object the mapper places in 3DS Max that references a preset. For example, all the building doors, elevators, lights, spawners, and purchase terminal "poke" objects are proxied. The building interiors themselves have been proxied up till this point, and they contain those other proxies. If there are many instances of a proxied object, it is easy to update those instances, since the mapper will only need to export to the presets once, and that preset will propagate itself to all the maps which have that proxy object.

The news here is that the building exteriors are proxied. They are no longer part of the terrain. There were also some extraneous building files that were set up separately, and they didn't need to be. All of these have been merged into the larger building object that is now proxied. This will let us do much faster fixes and updates to the buildings, without having to manually and painstakingly bring those changes to each map.

The RA_Buildings.max file in the SDK contained all the building terrain objects that a mapper would merge into maps. Naturally, I've updated this file with all the proxy objects, and added some extra proxy objects, such as defenses and support. Here is a screenshot of the new ra_proxy_masters.max file.

Proxy Objects in 3DS Max

  • General Cleanups

To be a bit more technical, multimaterials have been significantly reduced on the buildings (a multimaterial is when one mesh has multiple materials, and it's not optimal to use these, for the way our game works).

This one's minor, but many meshes have also been detriangulated, as it presents a much cleaner look and allows for better "quadforming" within one's mapping workflow.

Map Changes and Fixes
This list is ever growing, but I will share some of what has been done so far.

  • RA_Zama

The bases have swapped locations. The helipads have been removed, and power plants have been added in their place. Multiple service depots provide support for the expansive bases.

Zama Allied BaseZama Soviet Base

  • RA_Fissure

The falling platform behind the Allied Barracks is now set up properly. Now, when a player gets close to it, it animates a destruction, so that players can't walk out of the desired play area.

  • RA_Bunkers

An Ore Silo has been added for each team.

  • General

Every map .max file now points to textures in always.dat only. No need to turn everything into .tga files anymore, hurray! :) Speaking of that, I will try to get more maps into the next SDK.

Like Zama, a number of maps will feature multiple Service Depots. Mine layers should have an easier time refilling, and other vehicles, an easier time repairing or selling.

Maps will now feature a new "out of bounds" warning/destruction feature. For those of you who participated in the open testing and played on RA_Siege, you might have experienced this same system there. Here is a simple video demonstration of what happens when you venture out of bounds.

Youtube.com

  • Map-specific .ddb Files

There will now be no need for mappers to use temps.ddb, since the temp presets are now built into one of the level files. This means you can bring all your different maps that have different temp presets together into a single mod project, and still have your temps intact. It's just a part of the cleanup we've been doing!

In Conclusion
Check out the full blog post on our site to see an old render of a new house, and maybe if you look carefully, you'll spot some wine along the way!

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BHP Launcher 0.0.2.16

BHP Launcher 0.0.2.16

May 31, 2013 Installer Tool 28 comments

(UPDATE: No log-in required) The new frontend is here! Install TS:Reborn and RA:APB easily, with patch and repair support. The server browser will let...

Mapping & Mod SDK v2 - RA:APB Gamma

Mapping & Mod SDK v2 - RA:APB Gamma

Jan 1, 2013 SDK 0 comments

Updated for RA:APB 2.1.2 content. Art source files, mapping tools, compile/decompile utilities, and documentation to get you started on creating your...

v 2.1.2 Mac Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

v 2.1.2 Mac Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

Sep 25, 2012 Full Version 0 comments

(OS X) For Mac gamers, this is the RA:APB 2.1.2 full game client Wineskin. Thanks for Darklord42 once again for preparing this special wrapper for our...

v 2.1.2 Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

v 2.1.2 Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

Sep 24, 2012 Full Version 14 comments

(Windows) Latest client version for RA:APB, enabling you to connect to a server and play the game. Included are all game data files, stock maps, and frontend/launcher...

Obsolete - v 2.1.1 Mac Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

Obsolete - v 2.1.1 Mac Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

Apr 20, 2012 Full Version 0 comments

----------------------------------- This is an old version of RA: APB. It is incompatible with the current public versions. Please download the latest...

Obsolete - v 2.1.1 Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

Obsolete - v 2.1.1 Full Client - RA:APB Gamma

Mar 20, 2012 Full Version 6 comments

----------------------------------- This is an old version of RA: APB. It is incompatible with the current public versions. Please download the latest...

Post comment Comments  (0 - 10 of 1,733)
red3000
red3000 Jun 3 2013, 10:19pm says:

the launcher won't let me log in.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Chronojam
Chronojam Jun 3 2013, 10:49pm replied:

Please swing by our forum for technical help

+1 vote     reply to comment
ZenTheBest
ZenTheBest May 31 2013, 11:08pm says:

Could someone help me? Whenever i try to register on the main website im typing the correct registration question but it keep's giving me "Your answer to the challenge question was not valid. Please try again." Ive been trying for about an hour now

+1 vote     reply to comment
MadWolf
MadWolf Jun 1 2013, 6:32pm replied:

hi
i am getting the same error

+1 vote     reply to comment
Chronojam
Chronojam Jun 3 2013, 4:38pm replied:

Are you guys still having this issue?

+1 vote     reply to comment
ZenTheBest
ZenTheBest Jun 4 2013, 4:02am replied:

Yes i am currently unable to register still

+1 vote     reply to comment
Chronojam
Chronojam Jun 4 2013, 2:09pm replied:

If you have Teamspeak 3, please hop on ts.bluehellproductions.com and see about finding staff (perhaps Catalyst) to help you out with this

+1 vote     reply to comment
Chronojam
Chronojam Jun 6 2013, 3:21am replied:

In case it's not clear, it's asking you a math question

+1 vote     reply to comment
Chronojam
Chronojam May 30 2013, 7:20pm says:

Just a quick note, in case you didn't see the news here or in the launcher: We're putting the finishing touches on a new launcher, which means changes to our backend.

You can still directly connect to the gameserver but the server browser's down.

+1 vote     reply to comment
Chronojam
Chronojam May 31 2013, 8:48pm replied:

New launcher's released; it should detect an existing installation and offer to move it.

+1 vote     reply to comment
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Red Alert: A Path Beyond
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Release Date
Released Apr 7, 2011
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Highest Rated (8 agree) 10/10

i haven't even played it yet, but i still give 10!

Mar 14 2011, 11:18pm by BionicleManFanatic

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Red Alert: A Path Beyond, Released Apr 7, 2011
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Tiberian Sun Reborn Status: RELEASED. THATS RIGHT REBORN IS OUT. INFO HERE: T.co GET PLAYING.

May 31 2013, 9:04pm

Version 2 of the APB SDK is available now, download it or Chronojam will whip me again :( Download it here: T.co

Jan 4 2013, 10:18pm

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