Beng's Laser General Mod Rating Options

[Beng]

I have updated the file attachment (see the top post) to the latest version, beta 4, which adds some new things: better flak explosion particle systems, plus new units:

Raptor jet's "fox 1" button now targets objects rather than the ground so you can pick off individual targets like infantry with different shots.

New building: Long Range Sam Site: build limit: 2, requires war factory.
Lower rate of fire than patriot battery, but much longer range and much more powerful missile warhead.
It has some effectiveness against attacking Aurora bombers if engaging from a head-on aspect angle because attacking aurora bombers cause all weapons fired at them to target a spot behind them, as though targeting a decoy flare, but the SAM site missiles have a laser proximity fuse that detonates them as they pass by the aurora on their way to the targeted spot behind the aurora.
If you are using auroras to attack a SAM site you can overcome this by beaming the SAM site (putting it on the left or right of the plane so it attacks from the side rather than head on) until it has fired and missed, then attacking the site before it has a chance to reload and fire again.
Do this by force-firing the plane on some ground far away to get it to move towards that spot at attack speed, but force fire a new spot before it gets close enough to launch it's cruise missile. When the SAM site has fired and missed, target the SAM site.
Together with other anti-air defences the SAM site improves your anti-scud storm and anti-nuke missile defences.
It can be upgraded with an A-10 AWACS drone which has it's own anti-air weapons and helps direct the SAM site so it can attack targets at a greater range.
The A-10 drone auto heals with the drone armour upgrade and comes with point defence lasers.
The SAM site is vulnerable to ground units and can be captured, and it's low rate of fire means it can be saturated by multiple simultaneous incoming air attacks, but otherwise it is a good offensive defence.
Build it in range of the enemy's supply piles / supply centres to shoot down the enemy chinooks. Or build it in range of ther enemy airfield to stop his planes taking off.
Build it in the path of incoming bombers (anthrax, A-10, EMP, cluster mines, etc), scud or nuke missiles, or aircraft, to shoot them before they reach your base.
Note: The generals powers bombers always come from the edge of the map closest to the enemy command center.

New vehicle: mobile gap generator.
This vehicle jams the enemy's radar map to a radius of 300, making it hard for him to use superweapons, generals powers, etc in that area.
It works against human players but not so much against scripted AI because AI can shoot into the shroud. Human players have to use radar van scan or spy satellite or send units to spy the area in order to dispel the shroud so they can fire superweapons.
The vehicle also has microwave and ECM beams to jam enemy vehicles, base defences, and clear garrisoned buildings, plus it can hack and jam enemy factories like a hacker, but from a longer range, and it can contain 8 infantry who can shoot from it, like assault troop crawler.
It is also stealthed and detects stealth.
The drawback is it consumes 5 power.

Laser general's planes are now fitted with pilot excape vehicles. When a veteran plane is shot down, the pilot escapes in the pilot escape vehicle, a powered glider, which he can fly back to base before ejecting from it and descending via parachute.
Do not eject the pilot over water or cliffs.
The pilot escape vehicle can be upgraded with countermeasure flares, drone armour, and advanced training which makes it gain veterancy faster.
It is armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher (like combat bike).

Laser general's pilots can hijack enemy vehicles.

This post has been edited by Beng: Oct 26 2007, 06:42 AM

[Beng]

I have updated the attached file in the first post above to the latest version of this mod, 1.0 (no beta). I don't think i will make any more changes to it unless someone asks me to.

Changes in version 1.0 Nov 2007:

To add the laser units to GLA and China single player campaign games, the GLA barracks and China supply center can now build laser general dozers.

The GLA barracks will give you spy drone, pathfinder and stealth fighter sciences when you buy the booby traps upgrade. A laser general command center is needed to make spy drones.

The China Supply Center will give you spy drone, pathfinder and stealth fighter sciences when you buy the Advanced lasers upgrade. A laser general command center is needed to make spy drones.

Upgrading with advanced lasers makes America spy drones become the laser general type.

The particle effects for the radiation emitter weapon used by spy drone and tardis are now affected by the map particle cap settings, so you will only see them if the map's particle cap limit is disabled and your graphics detail settings are set to custom and a high amount of particles. I did this to try and help those with slower computers. When particle cap is enabled, you won't see the green rings but the unit will flash green when it emits radiation.

In the generals challenge laser general map, the arty platforoms have battleship guns. They will fire a salvo at a spot every 25 seconds until you tell them to stop.

Firebase point defence laser range toned down so it is easier to force fire your own firebase outside the point defence laser range of an enemy laser general's firebase and hit it with the EMP effect.
Firebase gets a missile jammer to make up for the toning down of it's anti-missile laser.

Colonel Burton can carry one infantry unit, so in the single player mission where he and Lotus race to the lab, he can swim across the river and capture the GLA base and carry a worker back across the river to build a tunnel network. Note: Do not destroy the tunnel network across the river, it is needed by a script in that map. It will ignore Burton anyway.

Sentry drones can now shoot wihout having to stop and deploy.

Oil derricks made a bit stronger.

Moab B3 bomber is armed with lasers and is stealthed when not firing.

Laser general's reinforcement pad plane is now the armed B52.

Vehicle scout drones have point defence missile jammers. They will make missiles miss, and also they have a laser target designator that lets yuor units shoot faster at the painted object.

Civilian chemical bunkers and factories give you the Anthrax bomb if you capture them.
Civilian Nuke bunkers give you the nuke carpet bomb if you capture them.
Bear this in mind in the Generals Challenge Boss map and in the Dr Thrax and Prince Kassad maps.

[Beng]

I made a gameplay movie to showcase this cool mod. enjoy.

Thanks, it's a really good movie, i enjoyed watching it. It shows most of the laser general units and their capabilities. It will look different with the new version though because i have toned down the particle effects for the radiation emitter weapons for the Tardis and sentry and spy drones. You will now only see the green ring effect if the map has a script that turns off the particle cap. Else the unit will just flash green when it emits radiation. This is because i suspected that the many green ring effects would slow down slower computers.

Note to map makers: have a script that sets particle cap enabled to FALSE in order to get much richer particle effects (smoke, fire, explosions, etc).

That was some quick thinking teleporting away the tardis when the troop crawler attacked it. Taking over the sniped overlord was also funny.

I liked the bit where Col Burton swims across the river and calls an air strike on the Chinese base. With the latest version he can also carry one infantry unit with him (a pathfinder or missile defender is useful), but anyway with the shoes upgrade i think the other laser general infantry types can wade in water.

I also like playing that 5-player skirmish map. You can save the 2 oil derricks across the bridge by straight away putting a spy drone over them when the game starts, it will kill any infantry who try to capture them with it's radiation emitter. You can then capture them when you are able, and upgrade them with stealth and mines to stop other players getting them. If you want to capture a mined oil derrick you first need to shoot the mines to set them off, then a ranger, or bettter, Burton, can capture it before the mines respawn. Burton can capture buildings in half the time it takes a ranger so he is better at it. In fact, for big buildings like command centers, it is faster for Burton to capture it and sell it than for him to try and bomb it with his C4 charges. Or better still, have him capture the enemy superweapon just before it finishes counting down (give him about 15 seconds before countdown ends) and then fire it at the enemy's own base.

I put the next spy drone over one of the tech arty platform at the bridge on the high plateau to stop it being captured, then i send a Tardis up there and capture everything. When you get the advanced lasers upgrade the arty platforms get the firebase guns (you may have to upgrade the platform with the drone to trigger the weapon set upgrade if it does not change by itself).

The bit where the nuke missile was shot down was funny. The thing with this mod is now the only super weapon that cannot be countered is the particle cannon.

Another thing i like to do is build supply dropzones in places where the planes will fly over the enemy base after dropping the money. They sometimes get promoted by shooting up enemy units, then if they are shot down the pilot comes out in his escape glider and you can try and eject him over some enemy tanks and have him hijack one. I managed to do this with a tank general emperor overlord tank and wasted some buildings in the enemy base before it was destroyed.

The stealth fighter is also better in the newer versions of the mod as it can destroy 1 stinger site AND the hole, or 2 patriot batteries or 2 gattling turrets, with the laser guided misile upgrade. It's neutron bombs are also good against vehicles and garrisoned buildings. For attacking tunnel networks, the aurora is better though, as tunnel networks have different armour that is not so easily damaged by the stealth jet.

I tend to leave stinger sites and patriot batteries intact to help when using the Auroras though, they will shoot at the unexploded Aurora bombs lodged inside nearby buildings and damage the buildings further. The 2 tunnel defenders outside tunnel networks also tend to help me destroy their own tunnel network hole when i bomb it with the aurora. This self-damaging effect only works with units that have weapons that do area damage, not weapons that only damage the target.

This post has been edited by Beng: Nov 22 2007, 11:44 PM

[granger]

found a bug here
when colonel burton dies with someone in him, the guy in him will become invisible. you can control him, attack the enemies with him but you cant see him or garrison him

p.s. sorry i didnt mension this in the chat

This post has been edited by granger: Dec 28 2007, 09:10 PM

[Beng]

found a bug here
when colonel burton dies with someone in him, the guy in him will become invisible. you can control him, attack the enemies with him but you cant see him or garrison him

p.s. sorry i didnt mension this in the chat

Thanks for the report. It is a strange bug. Maybe it can be fixed by making Burton's contain module do 100% damage to contained units when the container is killed. Alternatively i might just leave in it as a curiosity.

Another bug i have noticed is that an unmanned chinook on the ground, when destroyed, can crash the game. Maybe chinooks are not supposed to die whilst on the ground or something. It seems to happen more when the killing damage comes from an explosive weapon so that it dies with the EXPLODED death type, or maybe it gets hit by a weapon's shockwave effect.

[sarek2k]

Hi Beng

Love the mod it's ace the tardis is cool, this is probably the best mod going for cnc zero hour and i've played quite a few, my previous favourite project raptor (with the lazer general ) However your mod surpasess that with the tardis and the firebases i'm really really glad i read your instructions for once.

I registerd here just to give you my thanks and hope that you keep updating the mod and keep up the fantastic work it's added a whole new dimension to the game.

One last thing i'm not so bad at graphics would you like me to have a go at making the tardis look like it's doc who original? i'd have a go if you like.

Ps how about a Dalek or two

[Beng]

One last thing i'm not so bad at graphics would you like me to have a go at making the tardis look like it's doc who original? i'd have a go if you like.
Ps how about a Dalek or two

Thanks for the encouragement.

Sure, if you can make the models and skins, i will add them into the next mod i am working on, which includes the laser general mod, and also mods the Demo and Nuke generals. It's funny how my tardis looks like a portable loo.

Also, if you can make some infantry skin texture for the NIFOOTMAN.W3D models in W3DZH.BIG i will also add that in as i am using that for the Nuke General's red guards but it has no proper skin tecture.
Maybe you can give him a camo uniform or something, and try and make the scope on his gun whitish so it contrasts with the gun.

If you can't make the skin don't worry as i can also use the skin texture from the red guard (the colours are mapped to the wrong places but it doesn't look too bad).

[sarek2k]

Thanks for the encouragement.

Sure, if you can make the models and skins, i will add them into the next mod i am working on, which includes the laser general mod, and also mods the Demo and Nuke generals. It's funny how my tardis looks like a portable loo.

I don't know anything about how the 3d models are done but if you could send me the textures your using on the current model of the tardis i could have a go at that with an art package. Also if you could point me in the right direction of where to start with 3d models ie forums (this place for instance) as per my post this is my first foray into how zero hour actually works etc. I'll have a dig round and see what i can find in the mean time.

[Beng]

See "How to skin generals fiels" in the Modding Discussion area:
http://www.cncmaps.com/index.php?showforum=6

It looks quite a complicated process.

For the tardis i am just using the PMOuthouse01_G model with it's default skin that comes with the game. The textures are pmouthous01.dds, pmouthous01_d.dds and pmouthous01_e.dds located in Textures.big in Generals.

You will need XCC mixer (google it) to extract the files from big files, and something for opening dds format graphics files which have mipmaps.

This post has been edited by Beng: Mar 11 2008, 05:28 AM

[Beng]

Beng's Laser Demo Nuke mod, beta 2

Here it is, the beta version of a combined Laser, Demo and Nuke mod. My second mod trilogy for Zero Hour (the first one was a Boss, Superweapon, and GLA mod).

This includes my laser general mod, a Demo general mod, and a Nuke general mod. See the readme html file for details.

Let me know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions.

Between the three, Laser is still the most powerful, followed by Nuke, and then Demo.

You can play them all in the single player campaigns too as the vanilla side units can transform into the modded types. Or try them in Generals challenge on hardest difficulty.

Try building the new buildings in the Nuke and Demo mods, use the switch to real/fake structure button on their dozers/workers to see the buttons to build them (there wasn't space in their command sets).

Beta 2 fixes the Nuke SAM site so it's manual long range targeting button works (works like missile defender laser guided mode). It also makes Demo and Nuke infantry able to climb and swim with an upgrade. And Demo Stinger site can be upgraded with a Jarmen Kell drone, who will help the stinger site deal with infantry and Laser General Avengers (he will snipe vehicles).

Edit: Removed the attached file as a newer version is available. (See below)

This post has been edited by Beng: Apr 1 2008, 04:50 AM

[sarek2k]

For the tardis i am just using the PMOuthouse01_G model with it's default skin that comes with the game. The textures are pmouthous01.dds, pmouthous01_d.dds and pmouthous01_e.dds located in Textures.big in Generals.

You will need XCC mixer (google it) to extract the files from big files, and something for opening dds format graphics files which have mipmaps.

I had a look Beng, downloaded XCC mixer 1.40 extracted the textures to the desktop but i don't have any package that will open dds files. It all looks a bit out of my league to be honest i've even had a go with Zh Worldbuilder and found that hard too oh well it's back to just playing the game for me but i'll gladly give input on your mods. Just tried Beng's Laser Demo Nuke mod, beta 1 It's looking awesome tried as china nuke gen, then gla demo & finally usa laser general i see you have changed the sand mound icon for the porta loo looks better then the sand mound tho. Also loved the power of the new firebase like weapon for china nuke gen those gattling cannon's where cr*p compared to lasers i'd like to see something of an upgrade on those to green/cyan argon lasers like project raptor with a slightly faster / longer range etc (just a suggestion) Also did you speed up the tardis it dosen't quite seem as long in limbo to full transportation or is that just me?


I'll keep playing and give more input etc.

Oh yeah i forgot to mention when i was playing as Gla General / China i thought this is weird all the buildings are facing away from where i'm playing then i found the rotation handle after first click and then rotate and place

Again thanks for bringing new ideas to this great game personally i prefer Generals/ZH to Cnc3 but thats just me

This post has been edited by sarek2k: Mar 12 2008, 08:47 PM

[Beng]

The sand mound icon is the icon for the Tech Cave, a kind of capturable tech building that works like a tunnel network, that was not implemented in the final release. I used it's model and cameo image for the Nuke genral's uranium ore mine.

To build the new buildings in Demo and Nuke general, click the swicth to real/fake buildings button on their dozer/worker.

The Nuke Gen has the same EMP nuke firebase gun as laser gen, but instead of the long range assist weapon of laser genral's bases, it gets a long range neutron shells gun which you get from the neutron shells upgrade. Use the button on the gun to fire that at long range targets. I increased the cost of base defences for the modded generals since they are much better than the originals. If you are patient you can win most games just by building base defences closer and closer to the enemy. The Demo general's base defences are not as good as the other two, but still better than the un-moded ones. They also have more health and are harder to kill.

Regarding the laser general's laser turrets, they have already been "upgraded" from the standard ones in the game, which were red and had a shorter range. The ones in the mod have a longer range and faster rate of fire, but less damage per shot, so they do the same rate of damage as the unmodded ones. With Advanced Lasers upgrade, they do more damage. They have a bigger damage radius too, and so can also shoot down incoming aurora bombers, and are the best weapon for that purpose.

As for the Tardis i only changed the prerequisites to require a strategy center, and also increased the power drain during teleporting so you are more likely to get a base blackout if you don't have enough power plants. The limbo time is the same as before.

I also changed the spy drone so it now requires the sentry dron gun upgrade before it will get it's radiation emitter. Deploy it over enemy supply piles / supply centers to kill his harvesters, or near the enemy barracks to kill his men as they come out.

I rotated the placement view of some of the buildings to make them better for some of the Generals challenge maps, where you start with the command center in the bottom left of the map, or have limited building space etc. Yes you can rotate buildings before they are built, during placement, by clicking, holding down the mouse button, and dragging.

I think the Nuke genral long range SAM site need work. I am trying to make it auto acquire only medium range targets, needing the player to manually target long range targets. The methods i used for the firebase long range guns doesn't work for anti air weapons.

Another thing that needs fixing is when you shoot down a nuke missile, it sometimes hangs in space forever.

This post has been edited by Beng: Mar 12 2008, 09:33 PM