Renegade X - Beta 5 release

July 8, 2015, 6:14 am

≫ Next: Mental Omega News Bulletins (#16, #17, #18)

≪ Previous: OpenRA Playtest 20150628

Ever want to drive a Titan? Look no further!
The latest release of Renegade X, Public Beta 5 includes a slew of Tiberian Sun units to wreak havoc with, as well as an SDK for more customization. Check it out:

Renegade X is a free First/Third Person Shooter with RTS elements, developed from the Unreal engine. Players fight for two unique teams, manage their own economies, choose from over 30 weapons, 20 vehicles, and call in nuclear strikes, Ion Cannons, and airstrikes, and much more. Renegade X is for all players - lone wolves, team-based gamers, tankers, snipers, rushers, turtlers, and all others!

The Renegade X SDK allows you to create custom levels, mutators, and mods on the Unreal Development Kit using our framework. You'll have access to all of our assets and tutorials for free.

Head over to the Renegade X website for the full scoop

Those who have Renegade X Beta 4 will simply need to open the Launcher, and you will receive an auto-patch that will download the full update.

If you do not have the previous Renegade X beta, then you can download Beta 5 in full right here: http://renegade-x.com/download.php
Spread the word!

↧

Mental Omega News Bulletins (#16, #17, #18)

July 10, 2015, 2:37 am

≫ Next: Frontline Chaos - July 2015 Update

≪ Previous: Renegade X - Beta 5 release

First of all, gone is the (allegedly!) regular practice of posting Mental Omega news on MOndays, for the simple reason that I'll be posting news whenever there's something cool to show and there's a lot to come - new videos, the reveals of new units, new missions etc. For starters: a new semi-regular (to be reviewed in practice as usual with all the things I do here) feature to our website and our YouTube channel: a playthrough which shows the updates to the Act One missions.

The Mental Omega campaign is probably the most challenging campaign for Red Alert 2 ever created (not that there have been so many, right?), but the true challenge only shows up in the Mental difficulty. While for the next release we are indeed toning down the difficulty on Easy & Normal setting, the Mental setting stays unchanged. These videos will also present the latest changes done to the missions.

The first of buildable jets for Yuri's Epsilon is the Dybbuk-Attacker, the anti-armor aircraft for all subfactions.

Finally some news in the maps department! Two new ones: "(4) Yuri Is Not Easy" and "(6) Yunru's Snowglass".

Stay tuned for more Mental Omega news in the nearest future. The time to start revealing the units of Side 4 is almost upon us.

↧

Frontline Chaos - July 2015 Update

July 12, 2015, 1:14 pm

≫ Next: Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Release Date & Info

≪ Previous: Mental Omega News Bulletins (#16, #17, #18)

In today's update for Frontline Chaos I will introduce the workhorse of the Revenant army, the Modular Cargo Truck. The Modular Cargo Truck, or MCT for short, is an heavy duty truck that is used for various roles in the Revenant army.

The idea to use a single truck design as a base for various vehicles came with the design process of the Venom and the Cobra (more about those later). Initially, the Cobra was the only truck for the Revenant army, and the Venom was a tank with a missile turret on top. After various redesigns of the Venom's turret with none really fitting, the decision was made to completely scrap the turret design and instead go for a design comparable with the SCUD Launcher and the V2/V3 Launchers from RA1/RA2. With this new idea I also ditched the tank design and went for a truck design instead. The end result was a flatbed truck with a launch platform in the place were normally cargo would be carried.

This got me thinking on possibly re-using the truck design (minus launch platform) for the Cobra. The Cobra's design also changed a lot over the months, as I wanted to keep 3 things in mind: it is a truck, it has a missile turret, and it can carry infantry. After scrapping another design, I figured I could just as well give the Venom truck design a try, as it could be a nice idea from a lore point of view as well. A bit of jury rigging later, and I suddenly found a design I liked.

One thing came to another, and in the end I had a whole line of trucks in both 8x8 and 6x6 variants, which now also included the Valkyrie as the third main variant.

From left to right:
Cargo Truck, Valkyrie, Cobra, MCT 8x8, MCT 6x6, Venom and Fuel Truck

The Cobra is the basic infantry transport vehicle used by Revenant forces. Based on a modified variant of the venerable MCT chassis, it is one of the faster vehicles on the battlefield. Trading the standard 8x8 layout for a 6x6 layout, it has increased mobility and a decreased turn radius. Revenant engineers also used the weight lost by shortening the truck to increase the overall armour. Even with the shortened design, the Cobra has room for four passengers or two Creeper drones.

For self-protection the Cobra comes with a turret that launches HE missiles with limited self-guidance. These missiles are effective against light armoured ground targets, and can also be used against slow-moving aerial targets. A combination of the self-guidance and an efficient missile engine give the Cobra an above-average range. Combined with the Cobra's high speed, it excels at hit-and-run attacks and quick raids.

Out of all Revenant self-propelled artillery systems, the Venom is the preferred vehicle for most Revenant commanders. Carrying two short range ballistic missiles on an open-topped launch platform, the Venom is used to bombard targets from behind the main battle lines. Various warheads are available, but most commanders stick to the default High Explosive warhead for general-purpose siege. While effective against immobile targets, the missiles lack any sort of guidance and therefore cannot track mobile targets.

The Venom itself is a truck based on the MCT chassis, which makes it more mobile then most of its tracked counterparts. This however does reduce the protection from enemy fire. A Venom should be protected at all times, as it cannot defend itself when enemies have entered its minimum range.

To support the mechanized forces in the field, Revenant forces can rely on the technicians aboard the Valkyries to assist them in various tasks. Their first role is to sniff out any nearby cloaked units and objects, varying from land mines to vehicles with advanced cloaking technologies. Once found, all nearby allies will be alerted on their presence. With the large dozer blade in front of the Valkyrie it can clear any kind land mines with no damage to the Valkyrie self.

However, many Revenant forces praise the Valkyrie crew not just for its ability to detect enemies and clear mines, but for its repair tools. When repairs are needed, a Valkyrie deploys stabilizers and activates the turret on top in which various repair tools are housed. Once deployed, a Valkyrie can repair any nearby allied vehicle within a certain radius at a rapid rate. As this doesn´t disable the scanners, it turns the Valkyrie into a forward post which allies can use as a gathering and fall-back point.

That's it for this update. The next update will most likely be next month, but who knows that it may be sooner. Dutchygamer signing off.

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Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Release Date & Info

July 13, 2015, 5:10 am

≫ Next: EASB Hour 1.000 released

≪ Previous: Frontline Chaos - July 2015 Update

Hello everyone. Today we are happy to confirm that we now have a release date ready for Twisted Insurrection 0.40, which will be July 22 2015, just over a week away. The latest version contains a large list of changes since Version 0.39, which you can view in detail in our official changelog over here, but we will summarize the most significant changes here.

(Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Release Date: July - 22 - 2015)

So, what can you expect in Version 0.40? Well, we won't bore you with all the minor technicalities, so here is a list of some of the more significant changes:

Some large changes to the Twisted Insurrection Client
New client themes, bug fixes and many new options available
Re-compiled and lighter files for better optimization and performance
A new campaign mission and many fixes and updates to current missions
Lots of new maps added to the Multiplayer Map pool
Plenty of in-game bug fixes and balance changes
Lots of in-game graphical updates on terrain, props and some units
Removed lots of unused or broken code, some of which prevents a known Internal Error occurring
Lots of new additions to the Twisted Insurrection Soundtrack
Some new and improved unit voiceovers
Changes made to all three AI types in Skirmish mode
Both optimised and added some new sound effects
Plenty of new animations and effects added, including updating older ones for better optimisation

So as you can see from this list and the changelog, there have been a fair amount of changes since the last update and we are confident that you will be satisfied with these updates and fixes, most of which have been made based on the public input as per usual, so we thank you for your helpful feedback over the course of time!
If you would like to see some images of the changes since Version 0.39, have a browse through our ModDB gallery.

That concludes our update for this week and we hope you will enjoy Version 0.40 once it is released next week. Stay tuned for more news and updates in the mean time, just because we have a release date set, that doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be any more additions added in the run up to it! Take care, and have fun!

↧

EASB Hour 1.000 released

July 18, 2015, 3:37 am

≫ Next: Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Released

≪ Previous: Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Release Date & Info

After the long long beta version, the skirmish aspect of the mod is finished and we decided to release it as 1.000 version.

EASB Hour is a total conversion mod for Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge. As its name shows, it is based on C&C Generals Zero Hour theme. The Allied, Soviet and Yuri sides are replaced by USA, Russia and China.

We think that rebuild Zero Hour on RA2 is pointless, you can simply play Zero Hour. EASB Hour continues the story of Zero Hour.
(campaign missions will be released in later versions)

Please note, as a total conversion mod, EASB Hour has few in common with unmodded Yuri's Revenge. As a continued story, some units are also different from the original designs.

EASB Hour uses multiple super weapon system. The AI is also hard to beat. If you have trouble with that, you can turn off all super weapons in game mode.

Tactics:
USA has air superiority and high-tech units. Try to get them as quickly as possible!
China uses much ECM technology. Her tactic is centered around Inferno Cannons, Helix and ECM tanks.
Russian tactic is brutal & simple. Fill the enemy base with your tanks!

download link:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/easb-hour/downloads/easb-hour-1000-release
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rl3jqcni2w8yu4e/easb.hour.1.000.eng.release.7z?dl=0

If you have a bug to report, or some suggestions, you can leave a comment at our moddb page
http://www.moddb.com/mods/easb-hour

↧

Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Released

July 22, 2015, 9:15 am

≫ Next: Doom Desire July 2015 Update

≪ Previous: EASB Hour 1.000 released

Hello everyone, today we are pleased to announce that our latest version Twisted Insurrection 0.40 has been released and is now available for Public Download! To Install the new version, simply head over to the download section here on our website, download the file, extract the containing Twisted Insurrection folder anywhere on your computer and then run TI_Launcher.exe with Administrator privileges to set-up and play.

Alternatively, if you have Twisted Insurrection 0.39 installed, simply run, simply launch it and the client will prompt you about the new version being available, once it does, agree to download the file and let the client take care of everything for you, however it might be faster for you to download the full version manually depending on PPM's download speed.

Version 0.40 has been through a large number of changes since our last news post was put up showcasing the new changelog. For a complete list of changes, both minor and major, read the changelog here. Here is a breif summary of the new features that Version 0.40 brings to the table:

Improved Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 support and compatibility
Some large changes to the Twisted Insurrection Client
New client themes, bug fixes and many new options available
Re-compiled and lighter files for better optimization and performance
A new campaign mission and many fixes and updates to current missions
Lots of new maps added to the Multiplayer Map pool
Plenty of in-game bug fixes and balance changes
Lots of in-game graphical updates on terrain, props and some units
Removed lots of unused or broken code and fixed a common Internal Error
Lots of new additions to the Twisted Insurrection Soundtrack
Some new and improved unit voiceovers
New structures available in for Twisted Dawn
Changes made to all three AI types in Skirmish mode
Both optimised and added some new sound effects
Plenty of new animations and effects added and optimized some older ones

Many images and screenshots of Twisted Insurrection can be seen either on our image gallery over on our official website, alternatively there is also a large assortment of images uploaded here on our ModDB profile. Here are a small handful of screenshots from the latest version.

We hope you all enjoy the new version as much as we've enjoyed working on it! Please note that this is not considered a final release, meaning that bugs and errors are a possibility. We are always looking for feedback and thoughts from the fans and the players so if you have any thoughts, ideas or want to report any errors you have come across, please feel free to share them with us! Thank you, and we really hope you enjoy the mod!

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Doom Desire July 2015 Update

July 28, 2015, 7:31 am

≫ Next: OpenRA's Tiberian Sun support progress.

≪ Previous: Twisted Insurrection 0.40 Released

Time has come for a new Doom Desire update (last one was at the beginning of this year, so definitely).

There's a story a certain old guy may tell you, about...

...Paladin Imbris...

...and Paladin Ultor

Essence Thanatos Gunship The Thanatos Gunship uses same propulsion system as all Essence aircrafts, based on electromagnetic acceleration of charged air and plasma. Its reactor allows the heavy aircraft to stay inair, still leaving enough extra power for its anti-tank laser.

Essence GAIA Landship Old landship concept revived, it's a mobile fortress that's meant to allow Essence keep secure safespots everywhere they move. Armed with lasers, long range AA missile launchers, and a giant ion accelerator, it has all the firepower needed to move through hostile territories.

Vintarid Rha'tor Dream Master Before a war, politicians use propaganda to prime civilian population for their plans, so they get their support. But who needs propaganda, if you can control people's dreams... If your own dreams fight against you, and make you more susceptible for hostile influence, how can you fight?

Lastly, in April, Essence scientists came to a very important, yet very horryfing question: how do you defeat time traveling, hyperdimensional aliens with guns and bullets anyway? The answer is... you don't.
So they decided to get some help, and summon Ancient Eldritch Abominations to fight the aliens for us!
Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fthagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nfah Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Hmm... seems they summoned the wrong one...

That one didn't seem to be particularly willing to help either...

No biggie, though. As they say, if you can't get an Eldritch Abomination to help you...
just build yourself a giant war machine instead!

Essence Phanerunos (click to enlarge)

Until next time.

↧

OpenRA's Tiberian Sun support progress.

July 28, 2015, 9:33 pm

≫ Next: OpenRA Playtest 20150808

≪ Previous: Doom Desire July 2015 Update

Hey everyone. I don't konw how many of you visits our OpenRA editing forums. Sometimes people progress some interesting materials related to their progress on the upcoming Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 mods for OpenRA, as well as other mods. There are two videos that are worth sharing here.

The first one shows the progress of the Tiberian Sun mod with the heightmap and shroud branches merged. It's a replay of an online match. Check it out (make sure video quality is in HD):

And that's certainly not the only interesting TS material that you may see. There is a mod called Crystallized Doom, which brings GDI, Nod, Forgotten and Cabal to the battlefield. The video below was taken with an older version of OpenRA:

Likewise Crystallized Doom, there are several other mods switching to OpenRA. If you have one of these mods and you want forums and a site for your mod, post about it in the Public Mod Announcements and PM me requesting hosting. For more information on how PPM hosts projects, check our section about it.

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OpenRA Playtest 20150808

August 8, 2015, 9:03 am

≫ Next: Introducing RedAlert++

≪ Previous: OpenRA's Tiberian Sun support progress.

Numerous new features, fixes, and performance improvements make this a significant improvement over the last playtest and the June release.

A few long-standing performance issues that caused significant lag spikes in the mid to late game have finally been addressed. As part of this work, the AI has become a lot smarter about base building, uses support powers more reliably, and harvesters are less likely to become stuck.

Music playback has received quite a lot of changes. Map authors now have much greater control over music, including the ability to specify default (starting) music as well as custom victory and defeat tracks.

Other changes include:

The First Decade

Of interest for modders and mappers will be the addition of new Lua API functions. Disguising spies, capturing or infiltrating units and buildings using scripting is now possible. Other newly available functions can be used to play arbitrary sound files, flash the screen, and control the new palette effect trait.

Lot's of bugs and annoyances have been fixed:

full changelog

Grab the installer for this playtest from the download page and give it a try!

The game will warn players in the lobby when the host selects a map with custom rules. This should help combat the small number of dishonest players who adjusted rules to their advantage.

Infiltrating an enemy production building with a spy will let you build veteran units.

Allied players and spectators can now see the range circles from units and buildings.

New Lua API functions can be used to simulate simple weather effects.

↧

Introducing RedAlert++

September 9, 2015, 7:05 am

≫ Next: Heads up on PPM.

≪ Previous: OpenRA Playtest 20150808

Introducing

An open source re-implementation of the C&C Red Alert engine. Written from scratch in C++.
www.openredalert.org www.twitter.com/OpenRedAlert

OpenRedAlert is a project to create an accurate reimplementation of the game engine used for the classic Westwood Studios RTS, Command & Conquer: Red Alert in C++.

The team developing this are fans of the game who want to see it preserved and ensure it can be enjoyed properly on modern platforms. They do not have access to any of the original source code, and the project is being developed from scratch through careful examination and comparison to the original. This is to ensure that the new engine is as true to the original engine as possible, guarantee an authentically retro gaming experience. The project is not endorsed, sponsored or in any other way connected to EA/Electronic Arts and and has no intention to profit from the endeavour.

In the coming months, we will be posting regular updates and working towards a public release in the near future.

- Utilises the latest open source graphic and audio libraries (SDL, OpenGL and OpenAL). -
- Fully compatable with the original game, allowing you to run the compiled binary as a direct replacement of your original installation. -
- Fixes bugs that appear in the original game, without losing gameplay authenticity. -
- Built on years of thorough research into core gameplay dynamics to deliver a genuine experience. -
- Allows you to continue playing your favourite RTS on a device of your choice. -

Q: Why develop another Red Alert engine from scratch, if we already have FreeRA, FreeCNC and OpenRA...
A: FreeRA and FreeCNC are far from complete and appear to be abandoned while OpenRA is focusing on reimagining the classic Westwood RTS titles with modern era twists such as features found later Command and Conquer titles or other RTS games. Our focus is on a classic recreation with great attention to detail on the core mechanics, more akin to OpenDUNE, hence the new project.

Q: Why is it called OpenRedAlert, wasn't there already existing project called OpenRedAlert?
A: Correct, but the project has been inactive for some years now. We approched the creator, Damien some time ago now and asked the status of the project, and if it was currently inactive, could we use the name OpenRedAlert. Damien's project is still being developed in private and he has given us permission to use the name and hopfully in the future we can bring him on board to help with development.

Q: Where to download latest version of OpenRedAlert?
A: At the moment, OpenRedAlert is being developed in private so we can ensure the basic engine works as required. Once we are happy with the state of the engine, we will release a public build and also create a public repository on GitHub.

Q: What do I need to run OpenRedAlert?
A: It's simple! - All you will need is a installation of the original C&C Red Alert (patched to 3.03), and a compiled binary from the OpenRedAlert source code, be that from a preview build or from the public repository yourself. EA released C&C Red Alert as Freeware in celebration of the release of Red Alert 3 and it is now possible to legally download a copy from the EA servers or official mirrors.

CCHyper
Core Engine Programmer
- C&C Engine Researcher -

OmniBlade
Core Engine Programmer
- SDL and OpenGL -
- Cryptography & Algorithms -
- Cross Platform Deployment -

Additional Contributions
tomsons26 - Branding Artwork and Design
Tore - Web Technical Support
Grant - Web Technical Support
CNCNet Network - Website Hosting

If you are a fan of using social media, you can also

for updates and other information.

↧

Heads up on PPM.

September 11, 2015, 11:13 pm

≫ Next: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge for Free in Origin.

≪ Previous: Introducing RedAlert++

Hey everyone. I'd like to apologize for my silence in the latest months in terms of news posts. I had a very strict deadline for my PhD, a lot of stuff to do and, despite all odds, I've survived. But I've never got that much desperate with something in my life as I did with my thesis proposal.

In the mean time, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and the franchise as a whole has completed 20 years old in August 31st. Command & Conquer was the franchise that inspired this site to exists and to be what it is today. At that date, I had no conditions to organize any kind of homage for it. But I still don't know what could we do as a homage to the 20th anniversary of the Command & Conquer franchise here. If anyone has any suggestions about that, please, post in a reply.

The second thing is that a couple of things have broken while I was busy with my PhD. The News Tracker was one of them and it has been fixed a couple of minutes before this news has been posted. The other problem was risen by Google Chrome, who has decided to no longer accept the sound player used by our forums. I've switched to HTML5 audio, but that doesn't support WMA anymore and Internet Explorer's support for it is very limited. There is a temporary solution working on all forum themes except ptifo. But we'll deal with that soon and provide download links just in case someo decides to use an old and horrible Internet Explorer.

And that is it. If any of you are wondering why I'm being slow to reply or do things in this community, you may now understand it. But from now on, I'll have a bit more time to spend and get this place back to its full activity.

↧

Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge for Free in Origin.

September 17, 2015, 7:45 pm

≫ Next: Update: Twisted Insurrection Version 0.40.41 Available

≪ Previous: Heads up on PPM.

You might have seen some news in the web that Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge has been recently available for free in Origin, the official online store from Electronic Arts.

Yea, that game and its expansion are featured at the On The House section from Origin for certain countries, such as United States of America and a bunch of others. Unfortunately, in my country, they are distributing Theme Hospital. Red Alert 2 was so much popular, that Origin has taken it offline, because their servers were overloaded. They are back now, although it is being hard to download them.

For those who lives in the countries where EA is distributing Theme Hospital, you can claim Red Alert 2 for free with a simple catch. But I give no guarantees that you will be able to download it in a low term, since their servers seem to be overloaded. Click at this link. Then, click Download Now and login in Origin. Launch the program and Red Alert 2 will be added to your game library.

Remember that this is The Ultimate Collection version. So, I don't know how does it behave with some of the existing mods, Ares and some modding tools, since I've never used this version in my life. However, I'm pretty sure that the community here may aid you if you have some problems. So, if something doesn't work well with this game for you, use our forums, post a reply here and we'll aid you to have a better experience. Have fun and if you get bored of the game for some reason, remember that you can play mods and create your own mod.

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Update: Twisted Insurrection Version 0.40.41 Available

September 26, 2015, 5:06 pm

≫ Next: Happy birthday to PPM! A 15 years old community.

≪ Previous: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge for Free in Origin.

Update version 0.40.41 for Twisted Insurrection is now available to download via the client! This latest update adds a new and improved version of the Twisted Dawn Mammoth Tank, fixes some bugs in the game code and client and includes a few balance fixes. We have more updates coming up soon, we're currently working on something to benefit the Twisted Dawn mode fans, more information on that to come soon!

Boot-up the Twisted Insurrection and download version 0.40.41, to check out the changes in detail, read the contained changelog.txt file in the download. Have fun!

↧

Happy birthday to PPM! A 15 years old community.

September 30, 2015, 1:34 pm

≫ Next: OpenRA Playtest 20151031

≪ Previous: Update: Twisted Insurrection Version 0.40.41 Available

Hello everyone! Today, September 30th, 2015, is Project Perfect Mod's 15th anniversary. And every time, I tell the same good old story about how PPM started as an idea of a mod that has eventually grown to the community that it is today.

Last year we were haunted by evil 503 error messages. Does anyone still remembers them? I guess we've made some good progress with the stability of the site and forums. The forums, by the way, has gotten its own domain at http://www.ppmforums.com. My low activity in the news from this year mostly due to my PhD. It is a temporary problem, don't worry.

And to celebrate the 15th anniversary..... afterall, 15 is a special number, isn't it? Anyway, to celebrate it, I've added some steroids to Voxel Section Editor III's 1.4 beta recently.

As you can see the image above, you can Rotate Model (maintaining or not the dimensions of the section). Note that we still recommend you to rotate the model using OS: HVA Builder instead of rotating the pixels. You can change the background colour from all canvas and 3D viewers and set a default background colour at the Options -> Preferences.

VXLSE III also renders models respecting the minimum and maximum bounds of each section, something that previous 1.4 beta versions weren't doing.

There are also bug fixes related to the issues that happened when the program opened a voxel file when being launched, memory leaks, interface allowing double OKs, hit alt was still painting instead of showing the dropper, etc.

This version seems to be somewhat stable and it is much better than 1.38 at this moment. It's really highly recommended to use it instead of 1.38. It also includes the ability to import and export 3D models, among other features. Go grab it HERE and make sure you are online when you run it for the first time. If you don't want to be online in the first run, you have to download most of the files from vxlseiii14x from the SVN, except for the source code itself.

And that's it. I hope you enjoy the gift, keep contributing to this place, afterall, it has 15 years old thanks to your participation and contribution. And hopefully, this is just the beginning.

And yea, I was almost forgetting again.... the cake:

Credits: The cake was randomly obtained from this site.

↧

OpenRA Playtest 20151031

November 1, 2015, 10:55 am

≫ Next: Development on Twisted Insurrection 0.50 Begins

≪ Previous: Happy birthday to PPM! A 15 years old community.

The latest playtest build includes all of the major new features and balance changes and is preparing for one of the biggest OpenRA releases yet!

Everyone can help by filing a bug or joining the IRC channel to give feedback or get into development themselves.

The latest installer for your operating system is available from the download page.

Ten reasons to try the new OpenRA Playtest

1. New chat lobby

The multiplayer server browser and game lobby have been redesigned around a new global
chat channel.

This will make it easier to find and talk with other players, and to organize matches without server-hopping.

The channel is available from outside the game as well, by connecting to
irc.openra.net:6667 channel #lobby using your favourite IRC client.

2. Game speed options

Do you think that the default game speed is too slow (or too fast)? This version now includes a game speed option in the lobby and campaign menus!

3. Overhauled Dune 2000 mod

Manual of Muad'Dib by the Princess Irulan wrote:

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows.

One of the big focuses has been completely overhauling the Dune 2000 mod to more closely match the
original game. All of the unit and building statistics have been adjusted, and
new (old) features were implemented including the thumper and spice blows.

There is a good progress towards matching the feel of the original game, but we aren't there yet.
Let us know what you think, or if you find something that still doesn't match!

4. Tiberian Dawn mod improvements

The Tiberian Dawn mod includes some incremental balance changes plus a bug fix for SAM Sites that would refuse to close. This version includes several new multiplayer maps, and two new campaign missions - including a stormy commando mission.

5. Red Alert mod improvements

The Red Alert mod finally received a much needed shock-trooper nerf, and a fix for destroyed aircraft taking far too long to crash to the ground. The Soviet Hijacker and France's fake structures have also been improved, and we include five(!) new campaign missions.

6. Joystick scrolling

Another commonly requested feature was the ability to scroll using the right mouse button like a joystick (like TS and RA2). You can now enable "Joystick" scrolling in the Input tab of the Settings dialog. The developpers are still hard at work on OpenRA's Tiberian Sun mod, but there is no release date for you yet!

7. Units "defend" by default

Players have often complained about their units chasing the enemy across the map, and OpenRA's "pro"
players know that it is best to change the stance of their units to the "defend" mode. The developers have
made this the new default for all units, streamlining the game play a little bit for everyone.

If you want to change your units back to the old "attack anything" mode, you can use the change stance hotkey (ctrl+z by default).

8. New asset installer

The he asset installation procedure has been consolidated into the mod chooser. Look out for even more
improvements in future releases!

9. Fixes and performance

A large number of bugs were fixed, including the well-known replay freeze bug when a player
disconnects, and a memory corruption bug that would cause random crashes when starting a match on a
Windows OS. There is a continuous crusade for performance, and this playtest shows significant
further improvements over the last release.

10. Improved map and mod support

There is a boatload of new features for modders and map authors: maps can now include custom music
and define particle effects for rain, snow, or sand storms. There are major changes to the
traits that control actor rendering and targeting that make them more flexible and self-consistent.
Make sure to use the automatic rule upgrader to easily port your maps and mods to the new release!
You will need to manually update your mod.yaml and UI definitions for the new version.

↧

Development on Twisted Insurrection 0.50 Begins

November 2, 2015, 1:01 pm

≫ Next: D-Day: Heavy Metal

≪ Previous: OpenRA Playtest 20151031

Hello everyone, today we would like to announce that we are ceasing updates to the current public release, Twisted Insurrection 0.40, in order to begin development on the next internal Version, 0.50. Naturally we will continue to update the current public release to fix any critical bugs or problems that are found in the mean time.

So what do we hope to accomplish in Version 0.50?
We are simply planning to progress through all of our to-do-lists as thoroughly and as quickly as we possibly can, here is a short list of some of the things we are hoping to accomplish with the next release:

Additional campaign missions
Twisted Dawn campaigns
GloboTech's own mini-campaign
Completion of more faction structure artwork
Unit revision (add or replace units)
Further and more thorough bug fixing
Many more multiplayer maps
Better or improved client options and features
Some more cinematics for campaign missions
New aditions to the TI OST

Twisted Dawn mode originally started out as a way to exaggerate the timeline progression during our campaigns, but after introducing the Twisted Dawn game mode option to the skirmish menu, we have received quite a lot of requests and questions regarding expanding upon the game mode. Well, we're happy to announce that the next version will include the first batch of Twisted Dawn campaign missions, some of you have probably seen this already, but here is our first teaser image of the first TD GDI Mission, featuring our first official naval voxel by ErastusMercy.

As of this exact moment, there are a couple of GDI TD missions in progress, we also have a couple of missions for the Twisted Insurrection timeline in progress too, one of which being GDI Mission 16: Rise of the Phoenix. As also mentioned above, we would like to add more music and cinematics to the mod to add some additional depth and atmosphere. Yesterday, Henskelion finalized a new Nod Logo cinematic for campaign and mission purposes which will be included in the next release.

So once again, aside from the fixing of bugs and other errors located in the public version, no more updates will occur as all of our focus is now going to be on the next release. More updates, news and media to come soon. Thanks for reading and keep your eyes open!

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D-Day: Heavy Metal

November 3, 2015, 6:05 am

≫ Next: D-Day: Polish Heavy Tanks

≪ Previous: Development on Twisted Insurrection 0.50 Begins

It's been 5 months since my last news post, which is far to long. I haven't been sitting idle all that time tho, in fact I now have a backlog of 130 units to post! I have set myself the task of organising & posting them all on the D-day wiki& website before the end of the year, so you can expect to be seeing a lot more D-day news.

To start things off here are three unique heavy tanks from pre & early WW2.

T-39

The T-39 is a heavy multi-turreted breakthrough tank project started in the early 1930's. During it's development eight different layouts were designed, including one with two large turrets each armed with twin 107mm cannons. In 1933 the design was finalised with a single large turret with a 152mm & three smaller 47mm armed turrets. The feasibility of such a large tank and the ever growing costs meant that in 1934 the project was cancelled and work was instead switched to the less complex T-35.

VK100.01 Mammut

In June 1942 Ferdinand Porsche presented the design for the 100t VK100.01 Mammut to Hitler. He liked the design & authorized the construction of a prototype. Soon after he requested some changes be made and over the next eight months the VK100.01 went through several different designs and names until February 1943 when it was finalised as the PzKpfw VIII Maus

Ansaldo GL-4

The Ansaldo GL-4 was an Italian heavy tank project from 1929, very little is known about it's development but the Italian army rejected it due to the complexity and cost. Ansaldo then tried to sell the design to the Soviets who were more interested but preferred to design there own heavy tank.

Note:
There is some argument between historians if the turret was really equipped with two cannons or if the only known image shows a single barrel at both min/max elevation. I couldn't resist the chance to make a WW1 style Mammoth tank tho so I gave it both barrels #Tongue

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D-Day: Polish Heavy Tanks

November 12, 2015, 7:06 am

≫ Next: Rise of the Reds 1.86 Release

≪ Previous: D-Day: Heavy Metal

I'm proud to announce with this news post the first of many new Polish units to be added to D-day! They will be available via bonus crates in the next release and in a future version as part of a fully playable side.

Click of the unit names to visit their D-day wiki page for more information & pictures.

25TP

In 1936 the Polish army started a design competition for a new medium tank. The KSUS company submitted a design inspired by the multi-turreted British A6 and Soviet T-28 tanks. BBTBr.Panc then submitted a modified version of KSUS's design fitted with a more powerful engine and a Bofors gun. A wooden mock-up of BBTBr.Panc's design was built but the invasion and annexation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union stopped all work on the project.

Note:
During it's development the tank's official name was simply "medium tank" (Czolgi Sredni). The designation 25TP was created by historian Janusz Magunski post-war to help differentiate it from other Polish tank projects.

53TP

This tank design was submitted to the Polish army in 1939 by Professor Antoniego Markowskiego. It was quite an advance design with heavily sloped amour and a large 120mm cannon. Not much is know other then the brief design proposal, even if it would have been excepted though Polish industry at that time would have struggled to produced such a large and complex tank.

Note:
This tank received no official designation and was was simply called "heavy tank" (Czolg Ciezki). I have used the name 53TP in accordance with Polish armoured nomenclature to help differentiate it.

220TP

This monstrous tank equipped with a 155m cannon in it's main turret along with twin 40mm anti-air guns in a secondary turret at the rear was designed by Stanisław Lem the famed science fiction writer. Lem worked as a mechanic in Lwówin for most of the war, during this time he also created several different tank and rocket designs. In October 1944 he submitted them to the Soviet State Defence Committee, in hopes that they may help in liberating Poland from the Nazis. The Soviets had no interest in them though and filed them away in their archives, where they remained forgotten until recently when they were discovered by a Russian historian.

Note:
This tank received no official designation and was was simply called "battleship tank" (Czolg Pancernik). I have used the name 220TP in accordance with Polish armoured nomenclature to help differentiate it.

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Rise of the Reds 1.86 Release

November 12, 2015, 2:58 pm

≫ Next: OpenRA Playtest 20151114

≪ Previous: D-Day: Polish Heavy Tanks

Tomorrow, Friday November 13th 2015 I will be doing a few streams of Rise of the Reds version 1.86 and from this moment on I will no longer touch anything related to 1.85

The first stream will start at around 14:00 GMT (15:00 AMSTERDAM time) on my channel on twitch for the following reason: THE REASON

YES Version 1.86 will have its PUBLIC release as of the start of my stream and that does mean that I will be starting at the moment that countdown hits 0.

I hope that the testers will be around for a game or 2 that you can watch while you download and install the patch

Hope to see you all then!

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OpenRA Playtest 20151114

November 15, 2015, 9:12 am

≫ Next: Mental Omega News Bulletin #19

≪ Previous: Rise of the Reds 1.86 Release

This release fixes several general issues, including:

Fixed a hang when exiting the game under Windows
Fixed an exploit that allowed the color validator to be bypassed
Fixed Battlefield News never updating for some players
Improved polish and integration of the global chat channel

Fixes for the Dune 2000 mod include:

Fixed repair depots not repairing units, and buffed repair rate
Fixed missing unit crates
Fixed incorrect unit armor / damage statistics
Improved behaviour of Spice Blooms
Improved behaviour of Thumpers and Worms
Tweaked support power timers and Ornithoper Strike damage

The Red Alert mod balance was further iterated:

Fixed units not targeting enemy units under the fog when GPS is available
Reduced Spy Power Plant infiltration power-outage time to 20 seconds
Improved the speed, sight, and passenger count of Englands Phase Tank
Improved the cooldown between jumps for Germanys Chrono Tank
Improved Russias Tesla Tank by allowing them to attack while moving
Fixed M.A.D. Tanks destroying trees
Fixed several issues in the single player missions

The Tiberian Dawn mod received some fixes too:

Fixed Visceroids spawning when infantry are crushed
Fixed issues with the C&C64 - GDI01 and Nod05 missions
Improved the Nod delivery plane landing animation

As usual, you can find the installer for your operating system on the download page!

Surprise bonus feature! Copy/paste is now available in the map editor.

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