Blogs - Metalloid

Data updates will follow soon [22-nov]
This is still a great screenshot Moddb.com

[nProject latest version] [30-sep]
The last beta of nProject is a mod that you just have to play. Not only is the mod quite stable, as the previous version it's a joy to play. Many missions (maps) await me now to play, and since all generals are now fully equipped it will be a joy on all factions ;)

[Tip]
In case you can't get Zero Hour / Generals to run properly in win-7/64bits - fix it with these steps at cncnz . Another fix is to copy your winxp game Env: and paste it in your win7 documents tree. Be sure to run the game with admin priveledges and in XP-compat. mode

[Rise Of the Reds] [10 jun]
The latest beta if this mod is one you should download and play. Just reading the elaborate intro of the mod, should have you downloading it in background, while reading it further. The installer and the game experience must be as polished as that of ShockWave.
More on this mod later

[Battlefield::play4free] [10 jun]
This game is another play4free game like NFSpeed::World. The play4free system means that those gamers who pay are pay2win gamers, will have better attributes (in this case weapons) than you from the start and will be able to kill you faster if, and only if, they are better players. Lack of skill will have you winning them with other pure free players in your team.
Even though I'm not a FPS gamer, I tried this game just to see how the weapons in it are. The free weapons I've used (re)act quite nicely and another plus is, that the game doesn't update as often as NFSWorld.
The great weapons are not the ones on the first levels though. You'll get a taste of them when you win them as rentals in the daily card-toss. Sometimes you can even be lucky to win one as a permanent weapon. Usually you rent a weapons for some cash, 4 just one day (yes one).
Valuable weapon addition data in this thread
Valuable strategy-info in this thread
Because this game has to be played in team formation, a good set of social skills help a lot in getting good results in the missions. It also helps to determine if you're in a bad team (one with no player communications) where lone-wolf behaviour is supreme. Lone wolf teams always loose from teams where members say where they go and what they'll do. Two lonewolf teams against eachother make for a terrible game experience. When you see that, just move to another game server.
Teams consist of max 16 players per side. Since the game is only multiplayer, you need to train on empty servers (flying needs training). It's a dream to play on a server where the team you play in acts like a real unit. Even as a newbie, you'll immerse in your role immediately and great results will be at the end of the mission, as a reward. I was lucky once to play in such a team as a level 7 tech.
BUT...
It's a gamble to pay for games like this.
Need4Speed-World gamers experience this now, with the new skills system introduced, that basically nerves (disables, makes bad) the whole game experience, by robbing the free and paying players of their painstakingly gained skills, which could be used on all cars and replacing them with purchasable skills which do NOT cover all the previous ones, that have to be put on selectable cars. You don't get enough skill attributes for all your cars, and they make them slower, then before. In NFSWorld leveling up has no real value anymore, esp for new free players.
Be warned

NFSpeed::World [02 may]
The last news update on this game is here. There is not a lot of new stuff going on there so the post is brief. Social intercation has been cut a few weeks ago, which had made it more difficult for new gamers to form friends, but this move has been done to kill the annoying spam by a few smart trolls.
I will be reporting a bit about Battlefield::play4free at a later date, since that is the online game I've been playing more these days.

Tip [15 jun]
Contra has a very well written strategy tutorial. You should read it, because this can help you play many Zero Hour missions in a better way.

Quick-links:
Destructive:Forces Need4SpeedWorld
NFS:World Dragon varia game-engine and Shockwave music
TiberianDawn:Redux, All Maps save error, ScreenshotLinks
NProject & Shadow Photography
Enhanced Alpha testing - Important tip
ZeroHour ShockWave treasures
New treasures - Tiberian Dawn Redux
DestructiveForces MaxCameraHeight fix
Initial site experiences

Top Screenshot links:
A racer in flight NFS::World
Tiberian:Dawn:Redux
Enhanced Alpha with details
Shockwave shots with classice cameos
Shockwave DemoGeneral shots
Shockwave meets destructive forces
SuperGeneral Great smoke particles
Destructive forces MOAB + Particle attack
Destructive forces Nuke explosion
First Shockwave moddb screenshot

Tutorial [21-mar]
I've just submitted my first tutorial and was approved within a day by a site-mod (fast work mod thanks 8). You can read it here in the tutorial section.

Destructive::Forces v1.4b tip [18-mar]
Quoting the modder:
"Just noticed that the game actually loads the Default AI-scripts. To load the DF custom scrips you have to rename the Scripts folder named "Scripts" located in "\Data\". Rename it to anything, eg. ScriptsBCK. Now the game will load the DF custom AI Scripts. If you do not have this folder in your ZH\Data directory, then the custom AI scripts will load automatically. You can double check this by choosing the United Arabs as an HARD AI opponent. If they build the powerplant (should take max 4 mins) then the DF Skirmish AI is loaded.

NFSpeed::World [07 mar]
Yet another update is running for NFSpeedWorld in background. More info on that in the regular posting section of it. It seems that these updates are of a certain size range, since this one is about as big as the previous patch.

NFSpeed::World [28 feb]
Another server-park maintanance of 4 hours is running now which will end an 02:00 GMT. It's not surpsprising that this occurrs so fast after the last one because of the connection problems gamers were having since the last additions. What changed initially is the update of the gamelauncher. Read my last post in this section for more details.
Some avid racers must be experiencing deprevation anxieties now 8-)

NFSpeed::World [08-16 feb]
Important game development!
Cars are (again) retired. Read on this link and here about it.
I did a review on Need for Speed World which you can find at its usual place. I have a continuance on the review under one of it's screenshots (linked at bottom of review), because there's much more interesting info on the game, than the character space allowed. Be sure to read that section too. Make sure that you keep checking the second part of the review, because it updated freqently as I progress in the game. My tips will make your gaming experience in this virtual world easier. Can anyone tell me what's in NFSWO_COMMUNICATION_LOG.txt? The file resides in the large downloaded part of the game (not in the launcher's main folder)

Game engine found [05-feb]
I've just seen a multi-platform game-engine in development, that can be a very powerfull asset for modders and game-programmers! Read about the Dragon Engine here. The feature list on this engine is rich!

Shockwave music tip [30-jan]
Do you want variety in the music you hear in Shockwave?
In order to play alternative music in Shockwave, you can substitute the default music files of Zero Hour with those from the Tiberian:Sun music-pack or the Tiberium:Wars music-pack for a nice variety of in-game atmospherics. Make sure that you copy the 13 tracks of each faction to a backup location first (record the original location there too). According to sgtmyers88 you then need to place the new music pack in the Data/Audio/Tracks folder and you're ready to play Shockwave in Tiberian Sun [1] or Tiberium Wars sound sphere.

[diff]
A number of virtual modding & virtual computing screenshots have been added. I've been able to run three VM's without problems on my main server and was also able to export two VM's over standard ethernet to this machine under serious bandwidth constraints (only 100Mbit)
Be sure to have a look and read the captions here too

[Bottom-section]
I've added the a top-screenshot section to the end of blog.

[20-jan]
I had fought with an irritating bug in Zero hour. Even though I had triggered the [Endurance flag] for all maps played, I wasn't granted the medal. I had spent a number of hours in vanilla Zero:Hour to finish all official maps in the game, without the present of that medal. When the game failed to grant me my present, I posted a question at my C&C friends group here. Within a few hours n5p29 responded in detail, stating that, due to a bug in Zero Hour, the Endurance and the Ultimate medal cannot be achieved, without brute forcing the bug. There are two invisible maps that you'd need to play, before you'd be able to get the Endurance medal. The fix is on the link here at Cnclabs.com: you have to grand yourself those medals manually (in consecutive order), after you've actually achieved that level of gameplay.
Thanks n5p29!

Tiberain::Dawn::Redux (12-jan)
I have a very nice review on this awsome total conversion mod for ZeroHour here. At the moment this is my most played mod, along side the great ShockWave mod, because I have not played C&C in a long time and I'm re-discovering a lot from that monumental game by playing this mod.
I was right in my preview on Tiberian:Dawn:Redux, the work that was put in this mod, is clearly visible in the presented product. Because the documentation is also detailed, clear and in depth there were no surprises for me. I combined the improved v.1.3 launcher, which you can download here, with the latest beta of TDRedux (v1.4) and dove straight into a fantastic C&C environment, which you just have to see to believe. In case you have problems with lag, just download and install the zero-lag addon written by Trailhog250 here.
I have also uploaded more screenshots on TDRedux. They can be see at these three links: one two three
Thanks TDR Team!

Quick-links:
NProject & Shadow Photography
Enhanced Alpha testing - Important tip
ZeroHour ShockWave treasures
New treasures - Tiberian Dawn Redux
DestructiveForces MaxCameraHeight fix
Initial site experiences

NProject.v2.71 [13 -> 20 -jan]
I've played another nice set of missions in this mod and have made a prelimenary review, which is in its usual place. Natuarally there are also screenshots in their usual place. This mod really does what it states and you can even play on the moon! Of course you can only play and walk on the moon if you've downloaded and installed this patch. The ability to play the Boss General, the higher quality AI, the launcher and of course the stabilty, make this mod a nice one to play.

Powerfull computer opponents:
If you want powerfull AI for standard Zero Hour, you should try this Advanced mod.
According to the mod creator you'll have to re-strategize your tactics, because the AI attacks will not only be more intense, but also have more diversity. Another nice feature of this mod is that the AI generals will use their Superweapons in a smarter way. I'll be trying the mod soon myself, and will report how the computer plays with it.

Quick-links:
Enhanced Alpha testing - Important tip
ZeroHour ShockWave treasures
New treasures - Tiberian Dawn Redux
DestructiveForces MaxCameraHeight fix
Initial site experiences

Enhanched (p)review:
Aplha testing of a Beta mod
Enhanced is a mod with a lot of potential. Many interesting features have been implemented in this mod, with an emphasis on increased quality of the gfx of ZeroHour, using ENB as an addon, combined with other nifty tricks. Since the mod is still in its early development phase, I will not dwell on the fact that it hates to run on my ZeroHour config (even in a cleaned up dir). The max running time I achieved was about four minutes. That should not withold you from trying the mod out, because the modders *need* your feedback to make it a stable, true beta release, which it's not now (at least not on my machine). As you will see in my screenshots section, I've put a lot of efford to get at least some nice screens for you to evaluate the mod, in case you have bandwith constraints and need good (p)reviews, before you can download your material.
Good stuff implemented is the BossGeneral that you can play, which has a mix of Chinese, US and GLA tech. Other good things are interestingly modified maps, new units and a nice AI, which will make you adapt your defense stratigies.
There's also an advanced wheather system with sunrays, which will look weird on your system, if you don't know that you need to activate ENB in-game with [shift-F12] and you also need to drop your brightness to about 9 dashes, in the options screen. I know this, because I was lucky enough to read, download & play Tiberain:Dawn:Redux, *before* I truly played with Enhanced. Without the activation of ENB, and the significant brightness drop, the screen will look painfully bright & weird on your default in-game visual prefs. After having thoroughly read the TDRedux instructions, I could substitute those parameters in Enhanced.
You will see screens, where I show you the display with and *without* ENB, and you'll see how bad the screen looks without it. In my defense-build screenshots you'll see the mist and the nice overview, chopper cash sorties, also with and without ENB.
You'll also notice that I was attacked by surprise with the AI's SkudStorm, because the counter was *not* visible! That's a serious bug which needs to be addressed really fast. Another issue which needs to be addressed fast, is the fact that strange blocky objects appear on systems with nVidia vga cards, usually when an object explodes, something that's stated on the mod's page, and attributed to driver issues, by the modders. Imho that problem is within the mod, because all nVidia users seem to get that on their display. Apart from the fact that the mod doesn't seem to be ready yet for wide tests (which is the definition of a beta), a lot of good things have been achieved by the mod team already.
Conclusion:
This can be a nice mod, once its debugged properly. From my point of view it's still an alpha version...

Repeatable Enhanced:mod crash-info & screen:
Go here for the info on that. There's a nice preview on Enhanced with ten screenshots, showing the great potential of the mod. Help the modders out by testing it out on your system.

Important tip moved to a tutorial here

Quick-links:
ZeroHour ShockWave treasures
New treasures - Tiberian Dawn Redux
DestructiveForces MaxCameraHeight fix
Initial site experiences

KVM tip has been moved here

07-jan-2K12
I've downloaded Tiberain Dawn Redux and am going to dive into the mod, after I was forced to wait half a day, due to the above mentioned error. My initial experiences are in the review that can be found here.
As I had envisioned, this mod is definately one you need to play too. It's well worth the download. The resume function of the moddb mirrors work fine, so you don't need to worry about downloading it piece by piece, if you have a slow pipe to The Net.

ShockWave map pack
I've 'found' this on 31-dec-2K11
This is a valuable addon for ZeroHour::ShockWave. I'm currently downloading this addon in background and will also provide a review of it, once I've played through some maps. For me the AI in the maps is the most important for now. According to the readme in the pack, the maps are specifically modified for the new AI of ShockWave, which means that they've all been tested by the mod-group.

Now verifying the download:
$ md5sum 2011_03_16_ShwMapPack.zip
2a21ea7f993a99fc77935a320c9b9cd0 2011_03_16_ShwMapPack.zip
Fileintegrity ok

In the past few days I've played on a few maps an the pack is great! The AI is good and a lot of extra gaming hours are added to Shockwave. (It takes a nice ammount of time to play each map against AI)

Destructive Forces marine spawn bug:
I was once able to spawn a marine on the field without a crash. After I added the ability to create C4, the next marine I created crashed the game, the moment it spawned. It seems that I shouldn't add that ability to the marine here. I'll investigate this further and will update you with what I've found.

Another interesting addon for Zero hour was just found (05-jan)
BNOB-v15-english-version: With this gem you can get nicer graphics with standard zero hour and most Zero hour mods!

Make sure to read my other blog entries too ;)

Quick-links:
New treasures - Tiberian Dawn Redux
DestructiveForces MaxCameraHeight fix
Initial site experiences

I've just found other great mod(s) and addons here!

Tiberian Dawn Redux
Judging by it's features, presentation size and reviews this will also be a fantastic experience for us (all who haven't experienced it yet)!
You are brought back to the Westwood era with this mod, while you are in the ZeroHour engine! I will really need to play this mod, the moment I've seen more of the two others, I'm currently processing.

[26-dec-2K11]
I've recently added some descriptive screenshots explaining how I experienced ShockWave and Destructive_Forces for Zero Hour, with a finished draft of the Destructive forces review. There's also a definite fix for the camera height problems I had with Destructive forces which I found after nosing a bit in its download section. The default camera position made everything on the screen too small, especially the GLA builders.
When the draft for ShockWave is also finished, I'll change them to a final (beta and release version :)

*
At a later point I'll also add some of the photographs I took in San Andreas (virtual photgraphs :)
*

Quick_links:
22-dec-2K11

So...
As I was wandering through different mod-sites, hunting for C&C Generals and C&C Generals ::Zero Hour mods, I eventually ended up here, via the website of ShockWave. The experience was very nice 8)
Moddb is presented in a very comprehensive manner. Even as a guest most important features, needed for downloading work. Also for those who are on slow internet-links the site still opens in a good manner, something that cannot be said of much simpler social networks.
This is quite important since there are still many places on this planet, where a fast internet connection is 512kBit and a slow one is dialup :(
This also means that moddb must really flow nicely if you are fortunate enough to have a fast connection to the Net (2MBit+)
There are also proper limitations put on the images you're allowed to use for your ENV: which means that moddb flows good in the browser for everyone.

As you can see, it's all good here for me!

Now up to the voting section!