Do's & Don'ts of ZH Modding · C&C Labs Forums

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mac_bryan
50.25% (Neutral)
Private Topic Starter

7 years ago

Hi everyone

My name is Vic and I am new in modding, I know and play ZH for years. But it is not too long ago that I decided to try some modding. And so I have some questions regarding the modding:

Here is my Questions:

- Can I add as many Generals as I want in the game? 50 Generals

- Can I add Naval Units in the mod? I mean adding non-buggy naval units

- Can I add several hundreds of units in one General?

- Can I make a very highly detailed model (more detailed than the ones in Contra Mod or anyone!) without taxing the game's engines? Will it crash?

- Is it possible to not add team colors in units to add some realism in the game?

Thanks

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Gameanater
55.5% (Neutral)
General

7 years ago

Welcome to the forums!

I'll try to answer as much as I can.

- Can I add Naval Units in the mod? I mean adding non-buggy naval units

Kinda. But Zero Hour was never designed with much naval mechanics in mind, so you're going to be limited. For example it is hardcoded (that is, unable to be changed by modding) that you cannot ever build on water, nor set waypoints on water. There's workarounds but not fantastic ones.

- Can I add several hundreds of units in one General?

As far as I know there's no limit to how many units you can have assigned to a faction in the files, though if you want to have those all be buildable you'll have to create a lot of Command Buttons and Command Sets for them, which are limited to 12.

- Can I make a very highly detailed model (more detailed than the ones in Contra Mod or anyone!) without taxing the game's engines? Will it crash?

I've seen some very detailed models with huge amounts of polygons before, so yeah it's possible. But I'm pretty sure there is some limit to how many polygons a single model can have, not to mention how rendering a bunch of these detailed models is going to be very taxing on a 14-year-old game engine that hates modern hardware.

- Is it possible to not add team colors in units to add some realism in the game?

Yes. If I recall the models have a texture named Housecolor or something that determine what areas of the model can be recolored for team color. You'd have to ask someone who's actually done modelling (like Zatputchi/Precision_Bomber) though because I've never done it myself.

I wouldn't recommend removing team colors though because those are there for visual clarity. Just get three differant GLA Car Bombs together for example and try to tell at a glance which ones belong to you, your ally, and your enemy.

Any old friends still on here can add me on discord @jcdenton2187. I'm far more likely to respond there.

mac_bryan
50.25% (Neutral)
Private Topic Starter

7 years ago

Thanks for answering!

Yeah I have some amazing mods in my mind and I am interested in turning it into reality..

The reason the original ZH game is fantastic is because they never crossed the border of impossibility. For example take a look at some of the units in contra.. The dragon tank Literally looked like dragons tail.. This is what annoys me.. and also the cyclops eye of providence pyramid crawler that they add there.. and the giant optimus prime in robot generals..

Yeah I am a bit traditional in terms of ZH concept.. Father of all bombs is real so it's fine with me.. But to add a superweapon which hurls meteor into earth is a bit impossible.

Sorry for speaking my mind man!
:)

Zatsupachi
50.25% (Neutral)
Major

7 years ago

- Can I add as many Generals as I want in the game? 50 Generals

Originally Posted by: mac_bryan

Yes. But why 50? The stressful part here is making the PlayerTemplate Entries and ControlBarSchemes.
This is probably where "shared" objects come into play, because surely you don't want to code unique objects for all 50 factions. Maybe for unique units and structures, but not for every single object-- quite impractical.

- Can I add Naval Units in the mod? I mean adding non-buggy naval units

Originally Posted by: mac_bryan

Definitely. The challenge is getting the boats onto the water. So mods like, Reborn expect you to build a naval yard specifically facing the water-- but see that's not always going to happen.
Another way is to "deploy" a naval yard on water-- problem, there's no check to whether you deployed the naval yard mcv on water.
Another mod I saw had it with your dozer launching a weapon object onto water. If it "dies" with "WATER" damage, then a negative supply crate(the price of the naval yard), will spawn and "build" the naval yard.

- Can I add several hundreds of units in one General?

Originally Posted by: mac_bryan

Yes, my child.
My question is do you have several hundreds of unit object code on hand?

- Can I make a very highly detailed model (more detailed than the ones in Contra Mod or anyone!) without taxing the game's engines? Will it crash?

Originally Posted by: mac_bryan

Yes you can. But don't expect this really old engine to run smoothly if you have a crapton of the high-poly models running amok the map.

- Is it possible to not add team colors in units to add some realism in the game?

Originally Posted by: mac_bryan

Yeah, you can just not add "HOUSECOLORXX" sub-objects to the model.
I'm against this mainly due to the "gameplay > realism" argument. Game Design teaches you a lot things.
But-hey you can.

It seems that you're really gunning for a mod the surpasses Metal Gear.
I really wouldn't recommend pushing a mod too much to it's limits until you know what you're doing like Contra team does. I'd sooner wait for someone to open-source this aging engine.

"It's precision_bomber."
Death Label HAS BEEN RELEASED(go get v0.99):
http://www.moddb.com/mods/death-label/downloads/death-label-ver-099
Next Episode:
precision_bomber's Zero Hour SCIENCE!

king
100% (Exalted)
Major

7 years ago

GAMEANATER: what do you mean by commandbuttons and commandset are limited to 12.

Edited by user 7 years ago | Reason: Not specified

AdrianeMapMaker
71.25% (Friendly)
General

7 years ago

actually 18 is the limit

A part of ZH worldbuilders map making community
https://discord.gg/tJ6zyGb

UTD^Force
71.25% (Friendly)
Colonel

7 years ago

actually 18 is the limit

Originally Posted by: adrianemapmaker

Are you sure? I think it is 14.

@king-san, that means there is a limit to how many commandbuttons you can have in a single commandset. The limit is 14, I guess.

Example:

CommandSet AmericaWarFactoryCommandSet
  1  = Command_ConstructAmericaTankCrusader
  2  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehicleTomahawk
  3  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehicleHumvee
  4  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehicleMedic
  5  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehiclePaladin
  6  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehicleSentryDrone
  7  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehicleAvenger
  8  = Command_ConstructAmericaVehicleMicrowave
  9  = Command_UpgradeAmericaSentryDroneGun
  11 = Command_UpgradeAmericaTOWMissile
  13 = Command_SetRallyPoint
  14 = Command_Sell
End

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UTD^Force
Moderator and former map reviewer
Big fan of C&C Labs

UTD^Force
71.25% (Friendly)
Colonel

7 years ago

But, you can exceed that limit using the fakebuilding logic in the worker's commandset.
Example, commandbutton number 13.

CommandSet.ini:

CommandSet GLAWorkerCommandSet
  1  = Command_ConstructGLASupplyStash
  2  = Command_ConstructGLADemoTrap
  3  = Command_ConstructGLABarracks 
  4  = Command_ConstructGLAPalace
  5  = Command_ConstructGLAStingerSite
  6  = Command_ConstructGLABlackMarket
  7  = Command_ConstructGLATunnelNetwork
  8  = Command_ConstructGLAScudStorm
  9  = Command_ConstructGLAArmsDealer
 10  = Command_ConstructGLACommandCenter
 13  = Command_UpgradeGLAWorkerFakeCommandSet ;;;; To change to the fake commandset here
 14  = Command_DisarmMinesAtPosition
End

CommandSet GLAWorkerFakeBuildingsCommandSet
  1 = Command_ConstructFakeGLACommandCenter
  2 = Command_ConstructFakeGLABarracks
  3 = Command_ConstructFakeGLASupplyStash
  4 = Command_ConstructFakeGLAArmsDealer
  5 = Command_ConstructFakeGLABlackMarket
 13 = Command_UpgradeGLAWorkerRealCommandSet ;;;; To go back to the real commandset here
End
=================================================================================================
=================================================================================================
CommandButton.ini:

CommandButton Command_UpgradeGLAWorkerFakeCommandSet
  Command       = OBJECT_UPGRADE
  Upgrade       = Upgrade_GLAWorkerFakeCommandSet
  TextLabel     = CONTROLBAR:UpgradeGLAWorkerFakeCommandSet
  ButtonImage   = SUFakeToggle
  ButtonBorderType        = UPGRADE ; Identifier for the User as to what kind of button this is
  DescriptLabel           = CONTROLBAR:ToolTipUpgradeGLAWorkerFakeCommandSet
End

CommandButton Command_UpgradeGLAWorkerRealCommandSet
  Command       = OBJECT_UPGRADE
  Upgrade       = Upgrade_GLAWorkerRealCommandSet
  TextLabel     = CONTROLBAR:UpgradeGLAWorkerRealCommandSet
  ButtonImage   = SUFakeToggle
  ButtonBorderType        = UPGRADE ; Identifier for the User as to what kind of button this is
  DescriptLabel           = CONTROLBAR:ToolTipUpgradeGLAWorkerRealCommandSet
End
=================================================================================================
=================================================================================================
Upgrade.ini:

;----------------------------
Upgrade Upgrade_GLAWorkerFakeCommandSet
  Type               = OBJECT
  BuildTime          = 0.0
  BuildCost          = 0
  ButtonImage        = SUFakeToggle  
End

;----------------------------
Upgrade Upgrade_GLAWorkerRealCommandSet
  Type               = OBJECT
  BuildTime          = 0.0
  BuildCost          = 0
  ButtonImage        = SUWorker  
End
=================================================================================================
=================================================================================================
In the objects code:

Object GLAInfantryWorker
 ...
 ...
 ...
  Behavior = CommandSetUpgrade ModuleTag_14
    TriggeredBy = Upgrade_GLAWorkerFakeCommandSet
    RemovesUpgrades = Upgrade_GLAWorkerRealCommandSet
    CommandSet = GLAWorkerFakeBuildingsCommandSet
  End
 
  Behavior = CommandSetUpgrade ModuleTag_15
    TriggeredBy = Upgrade_GLAWorkerRealCommandSet
    RemovesUpgrades = Upgrade_GLAWorkerFakeCommandSet Upgrade_GLAWorkerRealCommandSet
    CommandSet = GLAWorkerCommandSet
  End
 ...
 ...
 ...
End

You can change that as you wish, having even more than two commandsets (I haven't tested that though).

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UTD^Force
Moderator and former map reviewer
Big fan of C&C Labs

mac_bryan
50.25% (Neutral)
Private Topic Starter

6 years ago

hi.. I am having problems with w3d tools in 3ds max.. please can someone teach me how to properly install all the necessary tools in the 3ds max? thanks 🙂 [img]null[/img][img]null[/img]
i can't find the spacewarps in maxscript

Edited by user 6 years ago | Reason: Not specified

AdrianeMapMaker
71.25% (Friendly)
General

6 years ago

#10

Are you sure? I think it is 14.

Originally Posted by: UTD^Force

contra modded the commanbutton gui and add more 4 slots

thats a lottt 😛

Edited by user 6 years ago | Reason: Not specified

A part of ZH worldbuilders map making community
https://discord.gg/tJ6zyGb

AdrianeMapMaker
71.25% (Friendly)
General

6 years ago

#11

Originally Posted by: mac_bryan

go to nls discord they can help you there

A part of ZH worldbuilders map making community
https://discord.gg/tJ6zyGb

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