At long last, I've put this page up. If you've heard of this project before, welcome! If you haven't, let me give a small rundown of what I've got here...
Since the very beginning, if you wanted to make a C&C mod, you used Yuri's Revenge. It was that simple. Tiberian Sun, as loved as it was, was inferior in many ways, rushed, and the amount of content and expansions made for it was minimal compared to its Red Alert successor. As someone who was more of a Tiberium fan than a Red Alert one (Don't get me wrong, I love them both), this upset me. While Yuri's Revenge was filled with mods and fanwork, Tiberian Sun got the shaft. Why spend so much time and effort making stuff for a game that was a downgrade?
After having enough, sometime mid 2023, I tried to make a mod myself for TS. And it went horrible. The amount of features I had to work with was far too small and limiting. My next step? Do what has barely been done before,
BRING TIBERIAN SUN AND FIRESTORM TO THE YURI'S REVENGE ENGINE
With this, I'm tackling multiple birds with one stone:
- For the players, a more modern and enjoyable experience that just couldn't be provided with the way TS was built
- For modders, a new way to make Tiberian Sun mods without having to resort to the inferior engine (Or worse, port it themselves)
This isn't inherently a new concept. Plenty of YR mods have brought TS content to it, they are very similar and most of the time are compatible with each other. Rewire also attempted to remaster the game in the YR engine, but it didn't get far unforunately.
What you will find here is a work of love from community members who believe TS deserves a chance. I'm by no means a good modder, a lot of the skills I have in modding is average at best, but the determination to make this happen is strong.
My priority here is functionality first, QoL second, and "pretty updated visuals" last. As much as we'd all love beautifully upscaled graphics, it's not something I can fit in while also making the rest of the game work at the same time, but definitely something down the road.
BUT WAIT!
You say...
You CAN'T bring EVERYTHING to YR! It's not possible!
And while that was definitely the case before, the continued development of Ares and Phobos has made this more and more like something that can be done. Here is a list of things that have ALREADY been included in the current version!
- Fully functioning Veins, Veinhole monsters, Weeders, and Chemical Missiles
- Baby/Adult visceroids and the combining of them
- Proper tiberium storage
- Both Temperate and Snow theaters
- Droppods
- Pavement
- Subterranean and Stealth
- Cyborg Reaper cluster missiles and web
- Meteors and Ion Storms
Now obviously, some things have to be worked around to get to work right, but overall you'll find just about everything finished. As for the things we CAN'T get working (at this moment) but will include should they become possible
- Terrain Deformation. Many have expressed a distaste for it, and it won't affect gameplay by not being included
- Ice physics/cracking. Same with deformation, won't affect gameplay much, not desired
- Limpet mechanics. No one has (unsurprisingly) sought to bring this back. I've limplemented workaround mechanics for the drone that will give it utility, but don't expect it to work how it did before.
A straight port is something I was working towards at the start, but over time, something kinda hit me... If people want to play TS exactly how it was.... Just play TS. The game already changes so much just by having the defense/support tab, and building defenses alongside base structures. I've made the executive decision to adjust the game where I see it benefits from improvement. These include:
- More distinct "shared tech" between GDI and Nod
- Unique designs and cameos for units that definitely got hand me downs
- Plenty of extra content in the ini files for modders and mapmakers to take advantage of
- Tweaks in mechanics when something just wasn't possible before
- Slightly tweaked campaign missions to make the experience more enjoyable and less dreadful, since it was VERY rushed and falls flat in some spots
- Plenty of skirmish toggles to change the way the game is played versus AI or online
And to make this very, VERY clear for the folk in the back...
NO STATS OR CHANGES TO THE FACTIONS WILL BE DONE. THE CAMPAIGNS AND MISSIONS WILL REMAIN THE SAME IN OBJECTIVES, LAYOUT, AND MOST EVENTS
The goal of these tweaks is to make it more enjoyable for players, not to make it its own mod. Many players expressed uncertainty to my initial plan to adjust certain parts of the campaign, but found it to in fact be a lot more playable and enjoyable with certain areas adjusted. Any stat and faction changes will strictly be kept to the "COMMUNITY BALANCE" gamemode I've included with the mod. Besides that, GDI and Nod, and all its respective tech, will behave almost entirely as they did in the original.
With all that out of the way, please follow along as we finish up this journey. My initial releases will focus more on the gameplay and functionality, with future ones eventually catering towards modders and mapmakers. This is something long overdue, and something I will bring to this community.
Any questions? Any interest in being a developer or contributing to this? Feel free to reach out
