C&C Labs News Wire

— Friday, October 31, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 1:55:08 PM ET

Forgotten Forest - New Official Map

As promised, the newest official map from the development team has been released today.  The map is entitled Forgotten Forest.  Here's the description:

Beware… enter the Forgotten Forest at your own risk…for you may never return! Graveyards, crypts and spooks inhabit this 2 player map brought straight to you from the ghouls & goblins on the C&C Generals team. Please have a hideously Happy Halloween!

You can download this Halloween-themed map from here on the Official Generals Website.

Last edited by Mike on Friday, October 31, 2003 at 6:56:12 PM.

— Wednesday, October 29, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 1:24:52 PM ET

New Poll Question

I've got a new poll question for everyone today. My curiosity about what feature on the right side of the homepage is used most often resulted in this question: Which of the following items on our homepage do you use most often? To see the list of possible responses, take a look at the poll on the right-hand side of the page. Go ahead and cast your votes now!

Here are the results for the last poll we had:
Which is currently your favorite faction in Zero Hour?
USA
171
41%
GLA
103
25%
China
135
33%

Total Votes: 409

The results were pretty close, but as of now the majority thinks that the USA is the best side! My thanks goes out to everyone who voted!
Last edited by Mike on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 at 6:25:38 PM.

— Wednesday, October 29, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 12:48:11 PM ET

New Affiliate

CnC Generals World now has a new affiliate.  We are now affiliates with CNC: Unleashed, an excellent fansite for everything Command & Conquer.  CNC Unleashed features content about everything from the original C&C, or "Tiberian Dawn," to the latest info on Zero Hour.  Unidentifiedname, a staff member at CnC: U, runs a "Community Roundup" that will be sure to keep you up to date on all of the latest news throught the CnC fansites. 

CNC Unleashed is also unique in that they have a "'democratic' policy in the administration of the site" - that means there's no hierarchy and everyone has an equal say in the site, a "vote" if you will.

I personally encourage everyone to pay a visit to our newest affiliate, CnC Unleashed!  They've even got an awesome layout too!  Check 'em out by clicking here.


— Tuesday, October 28, 2003 —

Posted By: Lazy6pyro at 3:48:59 PM ET

Trick-or-Dev Map

The Generals Development team is planning to release a Halloween themed map, entitled "Forgotten Forest," on, when else, October 31. Here is what EAComMike had to say:

On 10/31/03 the Generals development team will be releasing a Halloween themed map for both Generals and Zero Hour. Stay tuned to this news page for more information this coming Friday!

Visit the official site HERE.

Last edited by Mike on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 at 5:04:19 PM.

— Monday, October 27, 2003 —

Posted By: Sagi at 4:01:36 AM ET

Pro:Gen 1.7 for CCG is here!

DeeZire says:

Pro:Gen version 1.7 is now available for download!

This version makes radical changes to the structure of the mod and makes Pro:Gen more of a consistent step between Generals and Zero Hour.

The Generals are now individual sides like in Zero Hour, each with their own unique screens, Command Centers and production characteristics. Support has also been added for the 'Redemption' single player campaign - coming soon!

Theres only two downsides to the mod now - first, AI support for the individual Generals has not yet been implemented, although the AI for the normal USA, China and GLA sides has been enhanced so if you're playing against the AI make sure you choose to play against the original ordinary sides. Second, the download has increased to 36MB which is about as optimal as I can get it now, although I dont expect it to increase again.

Because of the complexity of the changes in this version, a patch to update from 1.6 has not been posssible so my apologies for this. Future versions will be patchable however.

The 'Redemption' single player campaign is now progressing very well and will be available real soon in the form of an 'add-on' to Pro:Gen. I did not want to include it in the main download as this would have drastically increased its size even further.

A text file detailing a list of changes can be seen here.

Enjoy!


To download the mod, go here and download Pro:Gen.
Last edited by Sagi on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 9:04:11 AM.

— Sunday, October 26, 2003 —

Posted By: Sagi at 12:13:54 PM ET

CnC Den is back online!

CnC Den is once again online and fully functional.
With new Zero Hour maps and the older files and info.
Here's what Lion had to say:
CNCDEN is back after what seems like an eternity. To make a long story short, the server we were on simply couldn't handle the net traffic we were receiving. I have secured new hosting through Gaming Source, and I want to thank Rob Scott and the rest of the team for their support and sponsorship. Also want to thank the many peeps that emailed me with their concerns.

Visit the Den for some new ZH maps and more.

Last edited by Sagi on Monday, October 27, 2003 at 8:40:06 AM.

— Friday, October 24, 2003 —

Posted By: Sagi at 2:35:31 PM ET

New Zero Hour Map - Mountain Fox

The new official Zero Hour map named Mountain Fox have been released on the Official Generals Site.
Here's from the official site:
The C&C Generals team once again presents the fans with a new multiplayer map: Mountain Fox. This unique layout should please the team players out there. We hope you enjoy it!

You can download the map by clicking here or vist this page. The file weighs about 300KB.

— Friday, October 24, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 11:53:06 AM ET

Community Updates

Here's the latest news from around the Command & Conquer community:

  • DeeZire Online, a popular CNC mod and editing website has a brand new look!  Pay them a visit by clicking here.
  • SgtLny from CNC Gaming has written and posted a review of Zero Hour.  You can take a look at that review here.
  • Lion of CNCDEN and RADEN, through a post over at CNC Community, informs us that CNCDEN will be back online within a few days.  To read the full post visit CNC Community here.
  • Unidentifiedname of Westwood Unleashed has started a new feature called "Community Recapitulation."  The new feature is a community-wide roundup of what has happened the past month.  You can check out the monthly roundup here.

That's about it for now.  More updates will follow soon!

Last edited by Mike on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 3:55:31 PM.

— Thursday, October 23, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:00:11 AM ET

Other News Details

While I'm on a news-updating rampage this morning (note: it's only 6:50 AM here) I'd like to make note of the fact that a few fellow CnC fansites in the community offline.  The DENs, both CNCDEN and RADEN are currently offline.  Lion, their webmaster, is currently looking for a new host.  We'll let you know when they're back online.

Also, CNC: Unleashed had a brief moment of downtime as well, but is now back online.

CNCNZ has a nice little program for download called the "Zero Hour Shellmap Randomizer."  As the name implies, it randomizes the shellmap for Zero Hour, as well as Generals.  You can find more details about this program here on CNCNZ's homepage.

And in unrelated news... it's snowing here, and accumulating!  Yep, I live in crazy New England, where it, apparently, now snows in October!

Have a nice day everyone!


— Thursday, October 23, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 2:54:20 AM ET

New Official Zero Hour Map Coming

EAComMike informs us on the Official Generals Website that tomorrow, Friday, October 24, the Generals team will be releasing a new official map.  Here's the details, which aren't much:

This coming Friday, 10/24/03, Electronic Arts and the Generals team will deliver another FREE Zero Hour map. There's little information on this map. In fact, it's so top secret that we only know the maps name, Mountain Fox.

We'll keep you informed and let you know when it is released.


— Thursday, October 23, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 2:51:30 AM ET

Official Site Poll

The Official Generals Website has a new poll.  The question is: What do you like best about Zero Hour?  Possible responses are:

  • New Generals Factions
  • Improved Skirmish AI
  • Campaigns
  • Generals Challenge
  • Improved Online Play
  • New User Interface Tweaks
  • Other

Go ahead and cast your vote at the Official Site!


— Thursday, October 23, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 2:46:32 AM ET

CnC Clan Listing

I thought I posted this a couple days ago, but I guess not.  Anyway, our affiliate CnC Series has a new feature on their website.  It is called the C&C Clan Listing.  It is a list of clans for CnC games.  In particular, if you have a clan for Generals or Zero Hour I highly suggest you check it out.  You can visit the C&C Clan Listing here.

All you have to do is register, enter in your details, and then wait for your details to be approved.  You can even log in afterwards to edit your information.  This great new feature was coded by Shock.  Nice work!


— Tuesday, October 21, 2003 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 12:43:35 PM ET

GWSF Recruiting

Our clan here is now recruiting members. We play Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour in different ladders which we are in the process of setting up. Please send an e-mail to Blbpaws@cncgeneralsworld.com if you are interested in joining. There is high competition for spots so not everyone who applies will get in.

The clan is sponsered by CnC Generalsworld.com and AstraL and I co-leader it. 

Last edited by Mike on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at 5:33:30 PM.

— Friday, October 17, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 5:33:21 PM ET

Fan Map Contest Results

I believe the saying went "it's better late than never."  That certainly applies in this case.

Here are the long awaited results of the Fan Map Contest.  Winners have by now received their prize of a t-shirt signed by the development team!  I've posted the top 9 best maps that were submitted.  Nine is a bit of an arbitrary number in this case, but that's how many were chosen to be posted.

Anyway, here are the top nine maps:

#9 - A Closer Encounter by cdlord
#8 - Winter Harvest by Stanga 77
#7 - River Bed by Mike Wade
#6 - SGMX1 by Skyra Starblade
#5 - Europa by Kampy
#4 - Der Damm by Da n00b
#3 - Armageddon by neo_angel
And the two prize-winning maps are...
#2 - Snow Bound v.1.3.5 by Edan
#1 - Midwater SK by hurngdak

I'd like to personally congratulate the winners of the contest for some truly awesome maps!  A special thanks goes out to the Generals World staff members who help determine the contest winners and all the Generals fans out there who entered!  If you're map made it on this list of the best maps, then congratulations; that's an accomplishment in itself.

All of these maps can now be downloaded from our Downloads: Maps page.  Be sure to head on over there to download some of these great maps now!


— Tuesday, October 14, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 4:49:48 PM ET

New Poll Question

I've got a new poll question for y'all today. It isn't the most creative of questions by any means, but it will suffice for now as we were really in need of a new one. This time around the question is: Which is currently your favorite faction in Zero? Be sure to vote on the right side of the page!

Here are the results from the last poll:

How will you be purchasing Zero Hour?
Pre-order
70
14%
I'll buy it at a local store
314
62%
Order it online
60
12%
I won't be
55
11%

Total Votes: 499

— Sunday, October 12, 2003 —

Posted By: Sagi at 4:44:01 PM ET

New patches for both Generals & Zero Hour

It's been a while since I last posted news here, so now I have a few news for you if you didn't know, form the Official Generals Site.

New patches for both C&C: Generals & C&C: Generals Zero Hour (the expansion pack for C&C: Generals).
C&C: Generals Patch 1.7 is on its way.
Here is news from the Official Site:

1.7 Generals Patch
Below you'll find a list of issues that the upcoming 1.7 Generals patch will address. We do not yet have a release date as our testing will dictate this schedule. We are reasonably confident that it will be in the next couple of weeks but this is not set in stone. Also, this list may alter as new info surfaces.

ISSUES ADDRESSED:
1. FORCE FIRE - CHINA's Gattling Tanks can no longer force fire through buildings.
2. RALLY POINTS - Added rally points to the GLA Tunnel Networks.
3. IMPROVED ONLINE STATS - Made improvements to the code that tracks statistics and disconnects in online games.
4. CRASH FIX - Fixed a crash bug related to the Particle Cannon.
5. DESYNCH FIX - Fixed a mismatch that occurred when ordering a unit to attack right after they exited a building.
6. REGION ACCURACY - User tooltip in the Custom Match lobby now correctly displays the user's region.
7. HERO RADAR ICON - Jarmen Kell, Black Lotus and Colonel Burton now have a special icon on the radar map.
8. CHAT SOUND EFFECT - Added an audio cue to alert users to an incoming chat message.
9. TEXT FIXES - Fixed text errors in the tooltips for USA Drone Armor and CHINA Nuclear Tank upgrades.
10. FIREWALL PORT OVERRIDE OPTIONS ITEM - Firewall Port Override values can now be set on the Options menu from the Main Menu.
The game will need to talk to external servers that use the following port numbers. These ports need to be open in your firewall in order to play on Generals Online:

TCP ports: 80, 6667, 28910, 29900, 29920
UDP ports: 4321, 27900

I really hope they will do this one right unlike the previous patch and few bugs and many mistakes I found in ZH.
To read about Firewalls and Zero Hour visit this page and read below the upper content.

First patch for Zero Hour is also coming, taken from the Official Generals Site:
1.01 Zero Hour Patch
Many of you have been curious as to what Zero Hour Patch 1.01 will contain. Here is a brief overview of the most important known issues. These are not set in stone and the list will alter based on our own testing and any new finds from the community. They are purposely vague so as not to make certain exploits obvious. We do not yet have a release date as we are still collecting info. We will also release Generals Patch 1.7 prior to this patch unless an emergency comes up.

Thanks for keeping us updated. As always, your input and insights are always appreciated by the team.

ISSUES ADDRESSED:
1. Sometimes rank medals appear gray in the Custom Match lobby.
2. Adding –quickstart command line parameter.
3. An issue when the Microwave attacks and Internet Center.
4. If the US-FireBase is filled with infantry and the user sells it, sometimes the infantry become invisible but are still selectable.
5. Adding -mod command line parameter.
6. A couple of Jarmen Kell firing recharge & balance issues.
7. Adjusting the Tunnel Network build speed.
8. A couple of targeting issues with the Battle Bus.
9. A specific situation where the player can tell if a unit is a disguised Bomb Truck or not.
10. A specific Fog of War exploit with one of the units.
11. Black Lotus capture exploit.
12. Various Microwave Tank Direct X9.0 and hardware issues.
13. Fixed a bug that caused the supply docks to disappear during skirmish games.
14. Removed audio cue that signaled every message displayed on screen during a game. Now it will only occur during incoming chat.
15. Removed Carpet Bomber from the 3rd mission in the CHINA campaign.
16. Changed all Gattling weapons so they can no longer force fire through structures.
17. Fixed a bug that stealthed units would not show up on the radar.
18. Fixed text errors in the tooltips for USA Drone Armor and CHINA Nuclear Tank upgrades.
19. Fixed a bug with the difficulty level of the Generals Challenge campaign when restarting a new campaign with one campaign already in progress.
20. Fixed an issue with the GLA RPG Trooper animation.
21. Made a fix to the Nuke General's map to prevent him from building multiple Nuke Silos on top of each other.
22. Removed the mismatch error message in replays (there is no mismatch – it is a text error)
23. Two new multiplayer maps.
Until next time, EAComMike and the rest of the Generals team!


All looks good here, although there are a few other bugs, I can't really remember now but there are a few. Still It's good that this is going to be done. The question is "when?".
Last edited by Mike on Tuesday, October 14, 2003 at 8:35:39 PM.

— Sunday, October 12, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:10:57 AM ET

New Wallpaper

For those of you who don't know, tomorrow not only Columbus Day, but also Canadian Thanksgiving!  Now, I'm not Canadian, but my aunt is, so in about an hour we'll be heading up to her house for some good food.  We're celebrating it a day early, so happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone!

Alright, enough of the personal story, and onto the wallpaper!  This wallpaper was created by Generals World Staff Member Luckie.  This wallpaper is clever, and I encourage everyone to take a look at it, even if you're not going to stick it on your desktop.  You need to see a full version of it for the full effect.  Here's the wallpaper:


[By Luckie]
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1280 x 1024

The text in the center, which you can't really read at thumbnail size, actually reads: Who says gaming can't be an art?  The pictures and paintings on the walls surrounding the text include images of battles from CnC Generals.

If you've got a cool looking, stylish, or creative wallpaper or fan art that you'd like to submit to Generals World, feel free to email it to me at MicScoTho@cncgeneralsworld.com.  Fans who submit their own works will be given complete credit, just as our own staff is.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Last edited by Mike on Monday, October 13, 2003 at 7:41:44 PM.

— Sunday, October 12, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 5:52:51 AM ET

Official Site Updates

The Official CnC Generals website has had a few updates this past week or so.  First of all, the development team has released a new official map, entitled North America.  Here's it's info:

Brought to you by the C&C Generals team, it's USA vs. Canada in this replica of North America! Battle from California to Maine to Quebec to the Yukon in this 2 player map. The Midwest will never be the same.

You can download that map from this page.

The official website has a new poll question, asking: Who is your favorite General? Visit the Official Site to vote now.

A few Zero Hour developer replays have also been added.  Check em out here.

Furthermore, GameSpy's servers will be having scheduled downtime tomorrow, as reported by the Official Site.  Here's the deal:

GameSpy will be performing complete system-wide maintenance on the “Powered By GameSpy” online gaming infrastructure and is scheduling downtime on October 13th from 12:00AM to 6:00AM Pacific Daylight Time in order to relocate existing hardware to a new data center.

Actual downtime may be less than the scheduled window.

A somewhat large community update was posted last Wednesday.  It discusses patch 1.7 for Generals as well as patch 1.1 for Zero Hour.  To read it, click here.


— Friday, October 10, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 2:19:28 PM ET

ClanLeagues.Net – New Official Community Ladders

Here's a snip from a press release that may interest many of you out there.  This is a CnC community-wide initiative that many of us have had in the works for quite a while now.  The press release explains it best:

ClanLeagues.Net’s Official Community Ladders for Command & Conquer Generals & Zero Hour expansion pack..

Birmingham, UK. – Oct 10, 2003 –Featuring ladders for both C&C Generals and the Zero Hour expansion set, ClanLeagues.Net(tm) is a fully supported ladder, ran, moderated and administered by dedicated fans from the community’s fan sites that will be dealing with any form of complaint, be it cheating, misconduct or anything else that needs to be resolved.

The ClanLeagues.Net(tm) ladders feature three main ladders for Generals and Zero Hour; a standard 1vs1 ladder for Generals, a 1vs1 ladder for the three main factions of Zero Hour, and a 1vs1 ladder for the nine Generals of Zero Hour. Future updates to the ladder and the ladder system will bring new and varying ladders to the site. You can submit your own ideas to suggesionbox@clanleagues.net.

The ClanLeagues.Net(tm) ladder is fully automated; however you will need to register at http://www.clanleagues.net/ to be able to view your statistics and qualify to join the ladders. The ClanLeagues.Net(tm) Generals and Zero Hour ladders record everything possible, including detailed statistics of each game that you have played, in a similar fashion to Westwood’s Renegade ladders.

This definitely sounds interesting.  I'm sure many online players will be pleased.  To see the full press release, visit the ClanLeagues website at either http://www.clanleagues.net/ or http://www.generalsladder.com/.


— Friday, October 3, 2003 —

Posted By: Mike at 5:01:30 AM ET

CnC Matrix is Back

CnC Matrix is back online after switching servers.  Here's some of what Malc had to say:

Hey guys, as you can see we're back. Unfortunately a simple situation got complicated (thanks to my host) and then a £88 fine for going over bandwidth resulted in me deciding that enough was enough I had to find a new host and here we are :) as you can see not everything is back yet but it is slowly all coming back online. Once everything is back online ive got some screens of some new never seen before SecondWave units plus a bunch of new Generals maps ill also be working on converting my current maps to ZeroHour so stick around.

Head on over and pay Malc a visit - he deserves it.  After all, he did have to pay £88.

In other news, CnC Series has some nice Zero Hour Walkthroughs by Vandal.  Check them out if you're stuck on a particular mission.

Last edited by Mike on Friday, October 3, 2003 at 9:04:00 AM.

Links