Bringer 2 file

Bringer of Light Mod for Command and Conquer: Generals (Version 2)
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1) Motivation:

While playing CCG I always felt that the Nuke Cannon's "extreme" range was rather puny.
Thus the Bringer of Light mod idea was formed - to make the nuke cannon much more like long range artillery. The mod only changes the Nuke Launcher. I have altered other units and game settings but I felt that it was best to release the Bringer mod as a stand alone alteration to get better feedback on balancing.

2) Alterations:

The mod changes the following things:

Range of the cannon is now much further (~4 times)
Nuke Launchers are now a level three general upgrade, swapping with Lvl 1 Cash Hack.
They do a bit more damage both directly and through the splash.
They fire every 90 seconds
They cost $2000
China is limited to 5 at any time
Accuracy versus infantry increased (no random deviation)
New cursor if you specifically click on the button to launch the nuke (With thanks to MB)
They build slower (30 seconds as compared to 20 before)
They take longer to deploy their legs (4 seconds versus 3.3)
Their shells move faster.
New sounds for the nukecannon when it moves and fires. The best bit :o) (with thanks to MB for his tireless work rating manic noises. Without him this mod would have far less gibber.)

3)Installation:

New: The self extracting zip should take care of this for you now. I've left the information below in case things go wrong somehow, to help you to get stuff where it should be.

To use the mod place the Audio, INI and english folders in the "Data" folder of CCG:

---> C:Program FilesEA GAMESCommand and Conquer GeneralsData

The new cursor (SCCNukeCannon.ani) must be placed in the "Cursors" folder

---> C:Program FilesEA GAMESCommand and Conquer GeneralsDataCursors

The Art folder should be placed in the CCG folder

--->C:Program FilesEA GAMESCommand and Conquer Generals

To disable the mod simply rename the INI folder or delete it. This mod will almost certainly not work with any other since it modifies files which other mods use (and vice versa). If you use this mod you will not be able to play against anyone not using it. Similarly, if you use the optional gamedata.ini to alter the zoom then anyone you play against will need to be using it too. The mod is easily disabled, by renaming the folder to INIx for example, if you want to play against someone without the mod.
If you want to incorporate the effects of this mod into another it may be possible by manually making the changes I did. I'll briefly run through what I did below.

New: Version 2

I've re-released the mod to take account of the changes to CCG in the new 1.06 patch. I've changed a few things too:

Increased slightly the minimum range of the BOL (by 25%) to make it easier to get "under the guns". This makes unsupported nuke cannons more vulnerable.
I re-wrote the generals.csf as the old one was actually a modified .csf taken from the tech mod release 2 so some of the information my have been incorrect for vanilla ccg.
I put all this in a self extracting zip to make installation easier (hopefully!).
I made the optional zoom mod activated by default. To disable the zoom out simply go to the INI folder and delete the gamedata.ini.

4) Gameplay Tip

The spotting range of the nuke is similar to before so the best way to utilise its long range it is to use a scout (the Black Lotus is excellent at this) to spot for the Nuke Launchers. Indeed, the cannons can be helpful for blowing a gap in base defenses to allow BLotus to sneak in. When fighting nuke cannons remember their range is not so long that (in most maps) they can be fired from within the initial base onto another initial base. They'll probably be forward of most base defences (assuming your opponent uses them, I like to turtle up and so do my friends so my experiences are biased to those tactics) and the nuke launchers are quite fragile. They cannot change position fast and often owing to the time it takes to deploy and take up their supporting legs.

5) Author's Comments

I have very limited game testing for this so the nuke may be too powerful or too weak. After I'd spent a day or so wandering through the .ini folders and making this mod my friends, with whom I play on the LAN, declared themselves to be tired of mods and would only play with vanilla CCG (thanks guys...). I don't think it's too far off myself having played the computer but you never know what fiendish tactic someone on the web will come up with so feedback will be very much appreciated.

doobydavois@yahoo.com

If anyone experiences problems with the mod affecting other aspects of the game which are unexpected then contact me ASAP so I can stop other people having such problems. Otherwise I'll give the details of what I changed in this mod below so you can tweak it yourself if you so desire. Modding for CCG, at least at this superficial level, is really pretty easy. It's basically all text files to alter. I picked up how to do this by reading the files provided by Chris T Hill in his tech mod and by just combing through the .ini files.

6) Modding

Ok the mod uses various .ini files. I've been modding for two days so my understanding is perhaps a tad shy of complete. However, I've experimented with a number of things and used the original game entries and those of the tech mod as a guide to gain insight into how this game can be modded. As I understand it the .ini files are found in their native state within the various .BIG files of CCG. They can be extracted and altered using a .big extractor (http://www.cncden.com/cncgen_utility_downloads.shtml is a good source of tools) and then good old fashioned notepad. When these files are placed in an INI folder they are used by the game in preference to the native .ini files in the .big. Hence when you load up ccg my nuke cannon settings will take preference over the original ones. Renaming the INI folder removes this effect.
The .ini files I've altered are listed below:

CommandButton.ini
CommandSet.ini
Mouse.ini
Science.ini
Voice.ini
Weapon.ini

and, in the Object folder, FactionUnit.ini

All of my changes are denoted by a ";Davois" before the altered entry. If you open the .ini in notepad and search through the file for the Davois entries they should be right next (or close) to things I've changed.

CommandButton.ini

Adds the Command_FireNukeCannonAtPosition commandbutton and points it at the correct actions, images, sounds and cursors.

CommandSet.ini

Alters the placement of most of the aspects of the mod which are found in HUDs. For example this switches the locations of the generals' promotion buttons to place the nuke launcher in the level three group and the cash hack level 1 in the level one group.

Mouse.ini

Defines the cursor name for the new animation. I used the Defector mousecursor which was already in the game but unused (or at least I've never used it) but pointed it at SCCNukeCannon.ani instead of the usual cursor (SCCFriendly.ani).

Science.ini

Alters the generals' promotions so that the nuke launcher is level three and cash hack lvl1 is level one.

Voice.ini

This alters the wav files used in a given situation I have altered the attack and move wavs for the nuke cannon. I've also added a new type of action, the NukeCannonLaunchAtPosition action, and pointed it at certain wavs.

Weapon.ini

Alters the damage and the radius over which the weapon inflicts that damage. Also alters the range of the weapon and the reload time.

FactionUnit.ini

An extremely long file, most of which I left unchanged. I altered the build cost, build time and vision clearing range of the nuke launcher. I also altered the speed at which the legs deploy on the cannon.

Honestly I've tweaked lots of stuff while learning what all the files do so there's probably lots of legacy stuff in the .ini files. I've tried to take it out and concentrate on the nuke cannon but if anyone finds anything I've tweaked and forgotten let me know.

Right then, go forth and fling nuke tipped shells at each other in the manner god intended.

2/5/03 Davois

With thanks to Chris T Hill for his tech mod and MB for pointing out my cursor errors which were stopping it working.

1/8/03 Davois

Same thanks as before but I also should add a thanks to the makers of the tools I used, the Xcc universal container reader and the Generals csf editor. Thanks guys ! Oh and thanks again to MB for simplifying the directory structure.