Command & Conquer Gold v1.06c
Revision 2
Created by Nyerguds <nyerguds@gmail.com>
Release date: December 11, 2011
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/cnc95upd/cc95p106/

This patch will update Command & Conquer Gold to version 1.06c revision 2. This version includes several program bug fixes, graphics updates, mission fixes and new features, like higher resolutions, an expandable language system, and lots of new options for making missions and mods.

This is not an official patch. It is created by Nyerguds, who is not responsible if this patch somehow manages to ruin your game, eat your hard disk or cause martians to land in your back yard.

This file is getting way too big, so this should help you find your way around:

Table of contents:

  1. What's new in 1.06c revision 2
 The most important changes
  1. Known bugs
 Not too many. Best to read this so you know.
  1. FAQ
 Have a problem? Look here first!
  1. Additional credits
 The people that helped me make this
  1. Notes on the new resolutions
 Things to keep in mind when playing in hi-res
  1. Notes on the Funpark missions
 How to access the secret dinosaur campaign
  1. Notes on the new options
 A ton of new options, but use them carefully
  1. Conquer.ini options
 The new user settings
  1. Language addons
 A new way of adding more languages
  1. Modding options
 The options in the new game settings files
  1. Rules.ini
 The internal game settings file
  1. Themes.ini
 The ini-based music tracks list
  1. The mod launch system
 A system to easily launch mods
  1. String replacement
 Only usable by the mod launch system
  1. Mission options
 Mission customizing enhancements
  1. General mission options
 Changing game settings for just one mission
  1. Briefing options
 A little extra for the briefings
  1. Building options
 Making certain buildings (un)capturable in missions
  1. House options
 The new house recoloring system
  1. New Triggers
 Mission programming enhancements
  1. Addon campaigns
 A way to put campaigns in the 'New Missions' menu
  1. Notes on Skirmish and LAN play
  1. Skirmish play
 How to play Skirmish against the computer
  1. New game modes
 Which game options are added
  1. Sandbox mode
 How to play without opponent
  1. Full changes list
 The complete list. Interesting read :p


1. What's new in 1.06c revision 2:

The new changes of patch 1.06c revision 2:


The most important changes of patch 1.06c:


Older upgrades in 1.06a/1.06b:




2. Known bugs:




3. FAQ:

Q: Does this work on The First Decade?
A: Yes, it does. It works on all PC versions of C&C95. That includes The First Decade, the C&C95 ISOs which EA has released and the original CDs. When the patch is installed on a First Decade installation, it will automatically enable the game's ini-controlled no-CD mode.

Q: Do I need the music upgrade pack from the website?
A: It depends. If you have The First Decade or downloaded the full game pack of C&C95 v1.06b or v1.06c, then you definitely don't need it. If you have the Covert Operations, you can just copy "scores.mix" from the Covert Operations CD to your game directory to get the same effect. If you have none of those, then yes, it's advised to download the pack, since it will add a vast amount of music and remixes which were made for the game but were never enabled before.

Q: After installing the patch, I don't get videos anymore!
A: This means you enabled the No-CD mode when installing the patch. Which is a pretty stupid thing to do if you want to keep seeing videos, since those happen to be on the CDs. You can disable the No-CD mode in the setup tool, or download the videos pack from the website.

Q: The high resolution doesn't work correctly! When I start the first GDI mission, the map is simply put in a small box with black around it.
A: Increasing the game resolution does not magically make the missions bigger. The first campaign missions are simply smaller than the high resolution. This gives a few odd graphical bugs, but if you just touch the side of the screen with your mouse cursor, and then open and close the main menu, most of these errors will disappear. Since C&C missions get bigger as you progress through the campaign, these problems will be completely gone after mission #3.

Q: I see the whole playing field twice in the first mission! why does this happen?
A: See the previous question.

Q: I don't like the high resolution... is it possible to switch back?
A: Of course. With the configuration tool CCConfig.exe, you can switch to any resolution you want, as long as it doesn't go below the original 640x400.

Q: There are only 8 icons on the sidebar, when you can clearly fit in more. Why don't you expand that?
A: I don't know what to edit to change that, sorry. If I find it, I may be able to change it, but at the moment, I can't.

Q: When I select the GDI Funpark campaign, I get Nod briefings and Nod units, just like in the Nod version. Is that normal?
A: Yes. There is technically only one Funpark campaign, with one missions set, and one briefing video. The side choice only affects which helicopters you get, and what you can build in mission #4, the only one where you have a base. You don't actually play with Nod; your units and buildings are simply gray, and you get units from both sides.

Q: I have a monitor which can't switch to 1024x768, but does have a 1024-pixel wide video mode with a different height. Can I still play in high-res, in the video mode my monitor can use?
A: Yes! You can use CCConfig.exe to set any custom resolution.

Q: After installing the patch, the "saveg_hi.###" savegames don't show up in the list!
A: Starting from 1.06c revision 2, all savegames once again use the original name format "savegame.###" (### being a number from 000 to 999). The older 1.06 versions used the format "saveg_hi.###" for high resolution, but since 1.06c revision 2 can load savegames from all resolutions, this is no longer needed. The installer should automatically rename all hi-res savegames to the original name again when installing, though.

Q: After loading a mission, the game seems to be locked in a smaller playing field than the full resolution. How can I fix this?
A: This happens when a savegame saved in a lower game resolution without an opened sidebar is loaded in higher resolution. Simply opening the sidebar (press [Tab] or the Sidebar button) fixes this.

Q: I can't capture the Advanced Communications Center in Nod mission 12!
Q: I'm supposed to capture a helipad with an Orca fighter in Nod mission 7, but the Orca fighter doesn't stay on the helipad!
A: This happens when loading old savegames. In 1.06c, all special behaviour in missions has been changed to become mission-specific options. If you load savegames from older versions of the game, these options are not saved in it, or not saved on the correct spot. You will have to restart the mission after loading the savegame to fix this, sorry.




4. Additional credits:

These are the people whose work made this patch possible:
With special thanks to:
Project donators, in reverse chronological order:
Beta testers:


5. Notes on the new resolutions:

Resolutions that are higher than the size of the playable part of the map cause some odd problems. Because of this, the use of resolutions higher than 1024x768 is entirely at your own risk. Don't even bother trying ridiculously high resolutions like 1600x1200. Since the maximum size of a C&C map is only 1488x1488 pixel, that would cause problems on pretty much every C&C map.

Specific issues:

1. Small mission maps:
The first campaign missions for each side will be smaller than the screen resolution, which gives some odd graphical bugs. Most of these are fixed by just touching the edge of the screen with your cursor (to scroll) and then opening and closing the main menu.

2. Savegames:
Some strange bugs may appear when loading savegames saved in a different resolution. These are usually fixed by opening the sidebar.

3. Lowest cell row build bug:
A small bug I've recently discovered in the new resolutions is the inability to place down buildings on the lowest row of cells on the map. Since the actual position where a building is placed is the top left cell of the building, this only affects buildings with a height of one cell though. This means you can't build fences, SAM-sites, turrets or Guard towers there. Advanced Guard Towers and Obelisks of Light are technically 2 cells high, so they don't have this problem. I'm still looking into the cause of this problem. I hope I can fix it soon.



6. Notes on the Funpark missions:

As most of you probably know, C&C contains a hidden mini-campaign involving dinosaurs; Westwood's little tribute to Jurassic Park. To access these missions, you originally needed to start the game with the command line parameter "Funpark". However, because using command line parameters in a Windows environment is rather annoying, and because the whole Funpark mode had tons of problems, I have decided to remove it from the game completely.

This obviously doesn't mean the missions are gone, of course. In fact, they are loads easier to access now. In v1.06c, they are simply put in the New Missions menu, together with the Covert Operations missions..

To start the dinosaur campaign, simply click New Missions on the main menu and choose the Funpark Dinosaur Campaign entry at the top of the list. There is one for both GDI and Nod, so just scroll down to find the Nod one; it's also on top of the Nod missions list.
Note that the entire campaign is just one item in the list, and not one for each mission. When you finish the first dinosaur mission, the game will NOT go back to the main menu; the new addon campaigns system will make sure you will go on to the next mission automatically.

The only difference with the original dinosaur missions is that this system removes the bug that sometimes allowed you to build both GDI and Nod stuff in mission #4.



7. Notes on the new options:

7.1. Conquer.ini options:

All of the options added in conquer.ini have been included in the new configuration tool CCConfig.exe. You can find it in the game directory.

7.2. Language addons:

Now here's a fun part... actually adding new languages to C&C. The only thing needed for a language pack to work is a lang_XXX.ini file (preferably inside a lang_XXX.mix file) with that language's settings in it.

The basic layout of the language ini file, for a hypothetical language "XXX", is this:

[Language]
MisNametag=NameXXX
MisBrieftag=BriefXXX
StringsExt=XXX
Brieffile=miss_XXX.ini
CDDir=XXX
MIXSpeech=speecXXX.mix
MIXTalk=talkXXX.mix
MIXIcnh=iXXX.mix
SHPPips=pipsXXX.shp
SHPRepair=reprXXX.shp
SHPSell=sellXXX.shp
SHPMap=mapXXX.shp

For more information on that, see the guide at
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/cnc95upd/cc95p106/language/

Note that the CustomStringsFile option (see modding options) is also available for languages, allowing it to be used to create small language variations without needing an entire strings file.


7.3. Modding options:

7.3.1. Rules.ini:
First of all, there's rules.ini. That's right, the good old rules.ini is back. Nothing too special in there, though; I just made it to separate the user settings from the actual games settings. You can extract this file from updatec.mix with a program like XCC Mixer, but most of the values in it will cause multiplayer compatibility problems.

The [General] section contains all options that were previously in conquer.ini's [Advanced] section, and before that in my old CCOptions.exe program. These are mostly unused beta options. Most of these can be enabled as mission options now anyway.

The [Music] section contains all music-related settings. This can be used to change which themes the game uses as default start theme and for the score, map and menu screens. The values for these are the filenames of the AUD themes, without extension.

This file does NOT contain unit/structure information. Just basic internal game settings.

7.3.2. Themes.ini:
This is the first result of putting game settings into moddable format. The music is no longer an internal list in the game exe, but is now an ini file, meaning music settings can be changed, music can be added, and the entire list can even be completely replaced if you want that. Though it's advised to fix the names of the special scene themes specified in rules.ini then. Like rules.ini, this file is located in updatec.mix.

As you can see in themes.ini, the file contains two parts. The first one is a list of all themes under [Themes], from 0 to whatever the last one is. Each item on that list is the filename of an AUD format file, without the extension. After that you'll find a section for the settings of each of the themes in the list.

Basic syntax:

[FILENAME]
NameID= Name ID number in the strings file to use as name to show in the playlist.
Name= Name to show in the playlist (overrides the NameID when specified)
FirstMission= First mission on which this theme appears in the playlist
Length= Length of the theme, in seconds
ShowInPlaylist= Show this theme in the playlist? (Yes/No)
HasAlternate= Does a .var remix of this theme exist? (Yes/No)
AlternateLength= Length of the .var version, in seconds

7.3.3. The mod launch system:
1.06c offers an entirely new modding system. Mods can be started by starting the game with parameter "-mod:modname" (without the quotes). This will cause the game to read a mixfile called modname.mix, and then read the mod settings file modname.ini from that mixfile.

Mod installers are advised to generate a desktop shortcut with that parameter.

The mod ini-file has much of the same options as the language system, but under a [Settings] header.

Here's the Settings section of the Star Wars mod, as example. The title screen options and the icons replacement I use are simply the same as in the language settings. See the language addon guide for more information on that. The added options are MouseCursor, to specify a filename for the mouse cursor file, and CustomStringsFile, to replace certain strings in the game by replacements specified in an ini file.

[Settings]
MIXIcnh=star.mix
MouseCursor=swmouse.shp
CustomStringsFile=sw_text.ini

Another section of the mod's ini is the MixFiles, in which you can specify additional mixfiles that need to be read by the mod. This list can be as long as you like, but will only read consecutive numbers; once a number is missing, the reading will stop. Also note that you can't pad the numbers with leading zeroes.

[MixFiles]
1=starmain.mix
2=starscen.mix
3=starvocs.mix
4=starmusc.mix
5=starvids.mix

7.3.4. String replacement:
The file specified by the CustomStringsFile option in the mod ini-file contains replacements overriding the strings file IDs. This way, mods can change certain strings in the game without needing an entire replacement of the strings file, which also improves compatibility with later game versions, since the size of the strings file could change. The basic format is this:

[Customstrings]
Last=711
110=Transport
711=Covert Operations

"Last" will specify how many string replacements the system has to try to read. After that, a list of numbers offer replacements for name IDs in the strings file.

This example will replace the name of the APC by "Transport", and the New Missions menu item by "Covert Operations".

The only way for mods to have multi-language support is to add a replacement of the lang_eng.ini/lang_ger.ini/lang_fre.ini/... inside the mod mixfile. For this reason, the CustomStrings system has also been made available in the language options.

Note that this system currently has no support for messages that span multiple lines though. Because of this, it is not yet possible to replace all strings in the strings file. In the future, the ` character will probably be reserved as "new line" for these, since it's normally never used.


7.4. Mission options:

Since version 1.06b, C&C95 also has the ability to use some special options in specific missions. 1.06c adds a bunch more. I have taken great care to make sure all of these options will be saved and loaded correctly from savegames, and disabled when a different game is loaded or started.
Note that special options from 1.06b savegames will not be carried over to 1.06c, since they are now loaded from a different place in the savegame. Any savegame from v1.06b with special options (like the patsux Orcas) will not keep its special options when loaded in 1.06c.

7.4.1. General mission options:
These are enabled by adding them in the [Basic] section of the mission ini file. Note that for boolean options (true/false), other indicators like yes/no and 1/0 can also be used.

  • CustomBuildlevel=True
 Will force the game to read and use this mission's BuildLevel setting in the campaign, even if the global CustomBuildlevel option in rules.ini isn't activated. Normally, the game always uses the mission number as buildlevel in the campaign. Note that the option is enabled by default in rules.ini.
  • TrueNames=True
 Show true names for civilians and civilian buildings
  • SeparateHelipad=True
 Build helipads without helicopters, for only $300
  • MCVUndeploy=True
 Construction yard undeploys to MCV when you sell it
  • NoBibs=True
 Disable concrete foundations under buildings
  • Patsux=True
 Laser Orcas. Special upgrade implemented for the PATSUX Playstation mission. Note that the Laser graphics can't be shown on Orcas.
  • PassiveHelis=True
 Makes AI helicopters remain on their helipad just like the player's helis. Note that this is not the same as "Sleep" mode: if you attack the helicopter it'll still retaliate.
  • NoEgoScreen=True
 Makes sure no score screen is shown after this mission.
  • RadarLogo=XXX
 With this, you can override the default GDI or Nod radar logo shown in a mission. I made this option to be able to show the T-rex radar logo in the Funpark minicampaign. The value given to this option is actually the file extension for the SHP file it tries to load as radar logo (HRADAR.*). Existing ones in the game are GDI, NOD and JP (the dino logo), but the system can perfectly load custom ones added to the game by putting them in a mod mixfile. The way this is used in the Funpark minicampaign is simply "RadarLogo=JP" to load "HRADAR.JP".

7.4.2. Briefing options:

Since v1.06b, briefings can have forced line breaks in them. This means you don't have to mess around with spaces to put text on a next line. This system is already used in the Covert Operations mission "Infiltrated":

[Briefing]
1=Infiltration!##
2=Nod has breached our base in Eastern Sudan and has begun taking it
3=over! Recapture the base and reestablish our military dominance
4=in the area.

The ## at the end of the first line will make it break off the line after "Infiltration!". Note that the ## code only works at the end of a line.

7.4.3. Building options:
For these to work, you need to add a header with the name of the structure (e.g. [TMPL]), and add the key under it. This works exactly like mission-specific building options in RA1 and later games. The only option available for now is Capturable (and to be honest, there are no plans to expand that due to the large amount of space this system needs to be stored in savegames). To make the Temple of Nod capturable, all you need to do is add this:

[TMPL]
Capturable=True

Note that this can also be used the other way around. You can perfectly use this to make the silos uncapturable:

[SILO]
Capturable=False

All buildings for which the option isn't specified in the ini file are left as they were, of couse. As with all options, use of savegames causes no bugs whatsoever; the changes all save and load correctly.

7.4.4. House options:
With 1.06c, you can also change the colors of the houses, with new options for the house sections ([Goodguy], [Badguy], [Neutral], etc.).
The following keys are available:

  • ColorScheme:
 Makes this house use a different color scheme (see list below). Each color scheme is a complete set of unit color, building color, unit radar color and building radar color. All the following keys will add exceptions to that basic profile.
  • SecondaryScheme:
 Makes the house use a different color scheme for its buildings, like Nod does. You can use 'None' to disable Nod's secondary color, but do note that the (metalic grey) Nod will still have red radar colors then. It's probably better to just put the normal ColorScheme to Grey or Red.
  • RadarScheme:
 Makes this house use the radar colors from a different color scheme

There's also these two, but they're expert features... only usable if you know some stuff about the C&C color palette:

  • UnitRadarColor:
 Specify a specific palette index as unit radar color. Overrides the RadarScheme setting.
  • BuildingRadarColor:
 Specify a specific palette index as building radar color. Overrides the RadarScheme setting.

Here is the list of color schemes. A color scheme includes the general remap color, the secondary color used for buildings, and the radar colors.

  • GDI:
 GDI yellow. Has slightly different radar colors than multiplayer yellow.
  • Nod
 Nod's scheme, with grey units, red buildings and red radar colors.
  • Yellow:
 Multiplayer yellow.
  • Red:
 Multiplayer red.
  • Teal:
 Multiplayer teal (blue/greenish).
  • Orange:
 Multiplayer orange.
  • Green:
 Multiplayer green.
  • Grey:
 Multiplayer grey (metallic / urban camo).
  • Neutral:
 Standard yellow, but with grey radar colors. Used by [Neutral] and [Special].
  • Jurassic:
 Standard yellow, but with red radar colors. Used by the [Special] side dinosaurs in the Funpark missions.
  • DarkGrey:
 New added dark grey scheme
  • Brown:
 New added brown scheme
  • Fire:
 New added bright yellow/orange scheme
  • WarmSilver:
 New added pale brown scheme


7.4.5. New Triggers:
This might be expanded more in future versions, but for now, I've simply added 3 clones of the trigger destroy actions:
Triggers can normally be destroyed with a trigger action of the type Dstry Trig 'XXXX'. Unfortunately, the name given in that trigger isn't variable. Only three trigger actions of this type exist, to destroy triggers called XXXX, YYYY and ZZZZ. In 1.06c, three clones of this type have been added, to also allow destruction of triggers called UUUU, VVVV and WWWW.

These three triggers were mainly added for multiplayer purposes: when experimenting with multiplayer scripting, it turned out that giving the multiplayer houses timed benefits (like reinforcements) could be used to create nice multiplayer enhancements. However, these reinforcements should obviously only happen for the players that are actually on the map. The only way to do this is to check with the All Destroyed trigger on each of the houses, and make that trigger remove the reinforcing trigger. But since there are 6 multiplayer-houses, this obviously only works if 6 triggers can be destroyed.

7.4.6. Addon campaigns:
As you may have read already, the Funpark campaigns are offered as one item that offers all 5 dinosaur missions. This is made possible by the addon campaigns system implemented in the New Missions menu.

Command & Conquer missions are of a general format that's basically SC(enario)[SIDE][NUMBER][East/West][A/B/C]. For example, SCG04WB is GDI mission #4, West side of the map, choice B.

The New Missions menu doesn't have the variety of alternates that the campaign has though; only missions ending on EA are used.

To put these extra endings to use, 1.06c contains a system that will make Covert Operations missions automatically look for the next alternative after finishing a mission. This means SCG20EA will continue to SCG20EB, then to SCG20EC, etc. It will continue until no more missions are found.
The full list of all alternates has been expanded too though. 1.06c can have up to 15 missions on each mission number this way. The ending letters are:
EA, EB, EC, ED, EE, WA, WB, WC, WD, WE, XA, XB, XC, XD, XE

Warning: Because of the way file names are saved in the game's .mix archives, the system that reads these files has problems with names that are only 2 letters different from each other. This problem has caused the addon campaign missions beyond the EA one to show up on the real list as different number, as if they are EA missions. Because of this, it is strongly advised to only use numbers below 100 and above 899.



8. Notes on Skirmish and LAN play:

8.1. Skirmish play:
Skirmish games can be played by starting a network game without additional human players, but with the "AI players" option enabled. Older versions didn't allow LAN games to start without human players, but v1.06 makes an exception if AI players are used instead.

To start a skirmish game, go to Multiplayer Game -> Network and click New to start a new LAN game. On the Network Game Setup screen, select the map and game options you want, enable the AI players option and start the game by clicking the OK button.

When playing in this mode, you must keep these things in mind:



8.2. New game modes:
Since v1.06b, another enhancement to LAN gameplay is available: you now have easy access to four game modes. Two of those were very hard to find in the original version, and couldn't be combined with AI players. This change allows you to use all four of them in Skirmish games.

You can access them by clicking on the Bases button in the Network game setup:


Note that AI players will get a Mobile HQ in Capture The Flag mode too, since the AI never has a base, and technically the Mobile HQ mode is simply CTF mode without bases.

For skirmish mode, Capture The Flag mode is advised, since it allows you to build your base and do tactical strikes against the AI's Mobile HQs. It makes skirmish against 5 enemies actually possible.


8.3. Sandbox mode:
If you want to familiarize yourself with the tech trees, and basically go nuts with it without having to fear any enemies, you can play in Sandbox mode by enabling AI players, setting the game mode to Capture The Flag and the amount of units to 0, and starting the game without additional players (=skirmish mode). This way, you have an MCV and can build a base, but the AI players only have defenseless Mobile HQ vehicles. The game will keep going until you go out to destroy all of the enemy MHQs. They will never come to you.
Do note that spawned visceroids often destroy the defenseless MHQ, but since they always go for the most northern target, they should be easy to intercept.



9. Full changes list:

v1.06c revision 2:

External addons / fixes:


Code updates:


Graphics updates:


Mission/map updates:



v1.06c revision 1 hotfix 1:

Code updates:



v1.06c revision 1:

Code updates:



v1.06c:

External addons / fixes:


Code updates:


String updates:


Spanish:


Mission/map updates:


Sound updates:
Japanese:


Spanish:



v1.06b revision 2:

External addons:


Code updates:



v1.06b revision 1:

External addons:


Code updates:


Graphics updates:


String updates:
German:



v1.06b:

External addons / fixes:


Code updates:


Graphics updates:


Spanish:


String updates:


German:


Spanish:


Mission/map updates:


Sound updates:


English:


Spanish:



v1.06a revision 1:

Code updates:



v1.06a:

External addons:


Code updates:


Graphics updates:


German:


French:


String updates:


English:


German:


French:


Mission/map updates:


German:


Sound updates:


German: