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Daniel Aldman shall not be liable for any claims or damages whatsoever, including property damage, personal injury, intellectual property infringement, loss of profits, or interruption of business, or for any special, consequential or incidental damages however caused, whether from the use of this software or any files created with it.
Daniel Aldman shall also not be liable for any claims or damages whatsoever, including property damage, personal injury, intellectual property infringement, loss of profits, or interruption of business, or for any special, consequential or incidental damages however caused from using the information in this manual.
RA Build is distributed as shareware, that is you may freely distribute RA Build as long as you do not modify it or this file in any way, and include this file. You may use RA Build for one week to evaluate it. If you continue to use it after that period, you must send the 5$ shareware fee as cash, money order or cheque to:
Daniel Aldman
Bergvägen 22
19631 Kungsängen
Sweden
If you send me the money, I will e-mail the latest registered version of RA Build to you as soon as possible. And once registered, you will always get the new registered versions of RA Build.
Please send bug reports and/or comments to: daldman@wineasy.se
Here you will always find the latest version of RA Build: http://www.users.wineasy.se/daldman/
If you mail me, and ask me to add you to the list of people who automatically get the latest version of RA Build e-mailed to them, you will always get the newest version of RA Build when it's completed. Of course, you could also Register.
I'm very interested in what can be done with RA Build, so if you want, you could e-mail your maps to me. I will, if you'd like me to, put them on my homepage alongside the latest version of RA Build. If I think your map is really good, it could also be included with RA Build when it's distributed (I'll of course ask you for your permission first).
RA Build requires a IBM compatible PC running Windows NT or Windows 95.
RA Build is a tool to edit Red Alert multilayer and singleplayer scenarios. As such it is able to load and save RA scenario files. These files have the extentions .mpr and .ini and lies in the RA main directory.
To load a RA scenario file, select "Open..." from the "File" menu, and select the file you wish to load.
To save a RA scenario file, select "Save" or "Save as..." from the "File" menu, and choose a filename and location for your file.
Editing RA files with RA Build is quite simple. Either you can edit all the values manually, or you can choose one of the items in the "Create" menu. This will bring up different windows depending on which item you selected.
When you select an item from the "Create" menu, a window is brought up. These windows may seem different, but in all of them there are the following things:
In this edit box, you can enter the short name of the building, unit, terrain type etc. But to simplify things, I have added all the possible values I know of into the menus. When a menu item is selected, a strange word appears here, say IRON. In order to make this easier to read, the real name of the building, unit, terrain type etc. will appear next to the edit box, in this case "Iron curtain".
In these edit boxes you can enter the position of the object(s) you wish to place. RA Build assumes you only wish to make one building, unit, tree etc. That is why the number in the "Position of first..." edit box is automatically copied to the "Position of last..." edit box. You can make more than one object, but then you have to enter the position of the last object into "Position of last..." edit box last.
These buttons bring up a small window with three edit boxes labeled "Offset", "Cells to the right" and "Cells down", which looks like this:
It helps to calculate RA cellpositions. If you place a single tree on an RA map in the RA map editor it ends up in the [TERRAIN] section like this:
[TERRAIN]
1234=T01
1234 is the cell number where the tree's top left corner is placed. If you enter this value in the "Offset" edit box, a number of cells to the right and a number of cells down in their respective edit boxes, the building, unit, tree etc. you are placing, will end up the number of cells to the right and down of the tree you entered.
To place something above or to the left of the offset cell, you can enter negative numbers here.
In the shareware version of RA Build, these buttons are disabled.
In this edit box, you can enter a comment to this building, unit, tree etc.you are placing. It doesn't do anything in RA, but could be useful in some circumstances.
In the shareware version, these edit boxes are disabled.
This button will add the objects you have created to their appropriate section.
This button will remove the window from the screen.
The "Create buildings" window is brought up if you select "Buildings" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there are these objects:
In this drop box, the name of the player who owns the buildings is entered. All the available player names can be selected in the pop-down menu.
In this edit box, you can change the health status of a building. 256 is the maximum value and this is automatically inserted when the window is brought up.
In the shareware version of RA Build, this track bar is disabled. You can still use the edit box, though.
In this drop box, you can edit which way buildings like gun turrets, AA guns and SAM sites are facing. The directions are all in the drop box with 0 meaning north, 64 west, 128 south and so on. In order to make it easier for you to change the way the building is facing, I've added a compass of radiobuttons which you can use to get the direction you want.
In the shareware version, these radio buttons are disabled. You can still use the drop box, though.
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the buildings are. Never put a lower value here than RA Build does, since your buildings will end up inside eachother.
In this drop box you can select the name of a trigger you wish to associate with this building. Leave it as "None" if you don't want a trigger associated with this building.
With this check box, you can edit whether or not the computer's buildings will automatically be repaired. When it is checked, the building will be repaired automatically if it doesn't belong to a human player, and the owning country has the money.
When this check box is checked, RA Build enters the buildings you create to the [Base] section so when the buildings are destroyed, the computer can rebuild them.
To make a mission where the computer has no base to begin with, remove the buildings from the [STRUCTURES] section. This will make the buildings pop up whithout ever having been there.
If you want the base to be rebuilt, a production trigger has to have been activated. To find out how to make a trigger, read the "Creating triggers" section.
The "Create units" window is brought up if you select "Units" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there are these objects:
In this drop box, the name of the player who owns the units is entered. All the available player names can be selected in the pop-down menu.
In this edit box, you can change the health status of a unit. 256 is the maximum value and this is automatically inserted when the window is brought up. You can also use the track bar next to the edit box to get the value you want here.
In the shareware version of RA Build, this track bar is disabled. You can still use the edit box, though.
In this drop box, you can edit which way units are facing. The directions are all there in the pop-down menu with 0 meaning north, 64 west, 128 south and so on. In order to make it easier for you to change the way the units are facing, I've added a compass of radiobuttons which you can click to get the direction you want.
In the shareware version, these radio buttons are disabled. You can still use the drop box, though.
In this drop box you can tell units what to do when the game begins. The orders can be chosen in the drop-down menu, or edited manually if you know of any who aren't there.
Remember: Harvest only works with the Ore truck.
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the units are. Never put a "0" in this edit box, since RA Build will overflow and crash.
In this drop box you can select the name of a trigger you wish to associate with these units. Leave it as "None" if you don't want a trigger associated with the units.
The "Create ships" window is brought up if you select "ships" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there are these objects:
In this drop box, the name of the player who owns the ships is entered. All the available player names can be selected in the pop-down menu.
In this edit box, you can change the health status of a ship. 256 is the maximum value and this is automatically inserted when the window is brought up. You can also use the track bar next to the edit box to get the value you want here.
In the shareware version of RA Build, this track bar is disabled. You can still use the edit box, though.
In this drop box, you can edit which way ships are facing. The directions are all there in the pop-down menu with 0 meaning north, 64 west, 128 south and so on. In order to make it easier for you to change the way they are facing, I've added a compass of radiobuttons which you can click to get the direction you want.
In the shareware verison of RA Build, these radio buttons are disabled. You can still use the drop box though.
In this drop box you can tell ships what to do when the game begins. The orders can be chosen in the drop-down menu, or edited manually if you know of any who aren't there.
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the ships are.
In this drop box you can select the name of a trigger you wish to associate with these ships. Leave it if you don't want a trigger associated with the ships.
The "Create infantry" window is brought up if you select "Infantry" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there are these objects:
In this drop box, the name of the player who owns the infantry is entered. All the available player names can be selected in the pop-down menu.
In this edit box, you can change the health status of a unit. 256 is the maximum value and this is automatically inserted when the window is brought up. You can also use the track bar next to the edit box to get the value you want here.
In the shareware version of RA Build, this track bar is disabled. You can still use the edit box, though.
In this drop box, you can edit which way units are facing. The directions are all there in the pop-down menu with 0 meaning north, 64 west, 128 south and so on. In order to make it easier for you to change the way they are facing, I've added a compass of radiobuttons which you can click to get the direction you want.
In the shareware version of RA Build, tese radio buttons are disabled. You can still use the edit box, though.
These checkboxes say where the infantry is standing in the cell. When placing infantry on an RA map, there can be five infantry in the same cell. These positions are called sub-cells and are numbered 0-4 like this:
1 2
0
3 4
This is also the pattern of the checkboxes, so you can check the places where you want your infantry to stand.
In this drop box you can tell infantry what to do when the game begins. The orders can be chosen in the drop-down menu, or edited manually if you know of any who aren't there.
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the infantry are. Never put a "0" in this edit box, since RA Build will overflow and crash.
In this drop box you can select the name of a trigger you wish to associate with these infantry. Leave it if you don't want a trigger associated with the infantry.
The "Create terrain" window is brought up if you select "Terrain" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there is this object:
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the terrain are.
The "Create smudge" window is brought up if you select "Smudge" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there is this object:
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the smudges are.
The "Create overlay" window is brought up if you select "Overlay" from the "Create" menu. To make the overlay appear in Red Alert, you have to open and save this file in the RA map editor. But be warned: the RA map editor removes all the buildings, units etc. you may have added. So if you are going to use overlay, save a copy of your file, open and save the copy in the RA map editor. Then copy the [OverlayPack] section form the copy into your original file.
Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there are these objects:
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the overlays are. Never put a "0" in this edit box, since RA Build will overflow and crash.
The "Create celltriggers" window is brought up if you select "Celltriggers" from the "Create" menu. Except for the things explained in "The creation windows", there are these objects:
In this edit box, you can edit how far apart the celltriggers are. Never put a "0" in this edit box, since RA Build will overflow and crash.
In this drop box you can select the name of a trigger you wish to associate with the cell.
The "Create triggers" window is brought up if you select "Triggers" from teh "Create" menu. There are these objects:
In this edit box you specify wich name you want this trigger to have. All triggers need uniqe names, and the names can consist of any letter or number but not of spaces.
In this edit box you enter wich country this trigger should belong to. The countries can be selected from the "Countries" menu. The numbers are also listed in "Available Red Alert countries" in "The Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide".
With these radiobuttons you decide whether your trigger should repeat or not. "No" of course means it shouldn't. "All attached" means the events must occur to all the attached buildings, units etc. in order for the trigger to be activated. "Free repeater" means as soon as the appropriate trigger events are true, this ttrigger will be activated.
With these radiobuttons you set how your trigger events and trigger actions shoud respond. T1 means the first trigger event, T2 the second trigger event, R1 the first trigger action and R2 the second trigger action. The options are:
As listed on the radiobuttons:
T1 -> R1
T1 -> R1 & R2
T1 & T2 -> R1
T1 & T2 -> R1 & R2
T1 or T2 -> R1
T1 or T2 -> R1 & R2
T1 -> R1, or T2 -> R2
In words:
T1 true to activate R1
T1 true to activate R1 and R2
T1 and T2 true to activate R1
T1 and T2 true to activate R1 and R2
T1 or T2 true to activate R1 (whichever comes first)
T1 or T2 true to activate R1 and R2 (whichever comes first)
T1 true to activate R1, or T2 true to activate R2
In these edit boxes, you set the specifics of the first trigger event. The trigger events can be selected in the "T1" menu. The trigger events are quite logically named, but if you for some reason want an explanation, read "The Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide".
In these edit boxes, you set the specifics of the second trigger event. The trigger events can be selected in the "T2" menu. The trigger events are quite logically named, but if you for some reason want an explanation, read "The Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide".
In these edit boxes, you set the specifics of the first trigger action. The trigger actions can be selected in the "R1" menu. The trigger actions are quite logically named, but if you for some reason want an explanation, read "The Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide".
In these edit boxes, you set the specifics of the second trigger action. The trigger actions can be selected in the "R2" menu. The trigger actions are quite logically named, but if you for some reason want an explanation, read "The Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide".
The "Create teamtypes" window is brought up when you select "Teamtypes" from the "Create" menu. As of yet, I haven't been able to get any teamtypes to work properly. But as far as I know, I'm doing everything right. If you see anyhing I'm doing wrong, tell me about it. Anyway, these are the objects:
In this edit box you specify wich name you want this trigger to have. All triggers need uniqe names, and the names can consist of any letter or number but not of spaces.
In this edit box you enter wich country this teamtype should belong to. The countries can be selected from the "Countries" menu. The numbers are also listed in "Available Red Alert countries" in "The Red Alert Single Player Mission Creation Guide".
In these edit boxes you can enter values for the third and fourth parameters of a teamtype. What these parameters do is COMPLETELY UNKNOWN to me. Edit these on your own risk! If you know what they do, let me know.
With these radio buttons, you can select wether the teamtype should be auocreated or not and if it should try to keep off the player's radar map. If you set the teamtype to hide, and the entire map has been revealed to the player, the visual radii of the buildings are used instead. This is only used when the "Number of autocreated teams" (below) is greater than zero.
In this edit box you enter how many teams of this teamtype there can be on the map at one time. Of course there can be more if you create extra teams with a trigger.
In this edit box you enter where the team should appear from if it is created by a reinforcement trigger. If you don't intend to use a reinforcements trigger with this teamtype, leave this as "-1".
In this edit box you enter a trigger to associate this teamtype with. However, you must always remember that Red Alert numbers the teamtypes starting with 0. So if you have three triggers, they are numbered 0, 1 and 2, not 1, 2 and 3.
This button adds another unit type to the list of units this teamtype consist of.
This button deletes the selected unit type from the list of units this teamtype consists of. This is useful if you for some reason don't want a unit kind you've added.
In this edit box you enter the name of a unit type to be a part of the teamtype. It's easiest to choose the correct unit from the "Unit type" menu.
In this edit box you enter the number of units of the kind in "Kind of unit" to be a part of the teamtype.
This button adds another order to the list of orders the units are to perform.
This button deletes the selected order from the list of orders the units are to perform. This is useful if you for some reason don't want the teamtype to perform an order you've added.
In this edit box you enter the number of the order the team is to perform. It's easiest to choose the correct order from the "Orders" menu.
The "Create waypoints" window is brought up when you select "Waypoints" from the "Create" menu. There is nothing in this window, which is not explained in "The creation windows" above.
The "Create country" window is brought up when you select "Country" from the "Create" menu. There are these objects:
In this drop box, you enter the name of the country to get the statistics you enter in this window.
In this edit box, you can enter the amount of credits the country gets at the start of the scenario. This value must be multiplied by 100 to get the real amount of money the side has.
In this drop box, you can enter one of the sides of the map. It's probably a relic from C&C Tiberian Dawn, where this sets where reinforcements come from.
In this edit box, you can enter which techlevel the country has. It is only useful for the player in singleplayer maps.
In this edit box, you can enter which IQ (0 - 5) the computer player has. If you set an higher IQ than 0 for the human player, the player's units will start to do stuff on their own.
In this edit box, you can enter which other countries this country doesn't see as enemies. Important: if the other countries don't have this country in their Allies field, they will attack this country. This country would not retalliate, since it thinks the other countries are it's allies...
If you check this check box, the player can move this countrys units around, but can't use the buildings for building units.
In this edit box, you enter how many units this country is allowed to have at one time. If you don't enter a value here, a standard value is used.
In this edit box, you enter how many infantry this country is allowed to have at one time. If you don't enter a value here, a standard value is used.
In this edit box, you enter how many buildings this country is allowed to have at one time. If you don't enter a value here, a standard value is used.
In this edit box, you enter how many ships this country is allowed to have at one time. If you don't enter a value here, a standard value is used.
In the basic tab you can change some basic values about this scenario.
In this edit box, you can change the name of a Red Alert multiplayer map.
In this drop box, you can change which country the player is controlling.
In these drop boxes, you can enter movies Red Alert should show before and/or after the scenario. This is of course only useful in singleplayer scenarios.
In the shareware version of RA Build these drop boxes are empty. In the registered version of RA Build they are filled with the names of all the movies in Red Alert.
In this drop box, you can enter a music theme to play at the beginning of the scenario.
In the shareware version of RA Build this drop box is empty. In the registered version it is filled with the possible music themes in Red Alert.
In this edit box, you can enter a value. However, I don't know what this value does, so if you do, mail me and tell me about it.
In this edit box, you can enter a value. However, I don't know what this value does, so if you do, mail me and tell me about it.
In this edit box, you can enter a value. However, I don't know what this value does, so if you do, mail me and tell me about it.
If you check this check box, the positions and health of all the units and buildings are saved after the scenario. They can be recalled in a later scenario by checking the "ToInherit" check box.
If you check this check box, the units and buildings saved in a previous scenario is recalled to this scenario.
I don't know what this variable does. If you do, mail me and tell me about it
If you check this check box, any transport units loaded with "Civilian" units (Einstein for example) leaves the map on their own accord.
If you check this check box, after the win movie, the credits will be displayed and then the player is treated to the main menu.
If you check this check box, the player won't get a spy plane if he builds an airstrip.
If you check this check box, the player won't see the score screen after the win movie.
If you check this check box, Red Alert goes back to the main menu after showing the win movie, without showing any credits.
If you check this check box, Red Alert loads the next map automatically without displaying the map selection screen.
If you check this check box, the "Official" variable is set to "Yes". What the "Official" variable does is beyond me though. Please mail me if you know.
If you check this check box, the silos and ore refineries will be filled with ore when the scenario starts. The amount of ore depends on how much money the player is given at the start of the scenario.
If you check this check box, a woodcrate will fall out of any supply trucks destroyed in this scenario. That includes the supply trucks owned by the player.
In the map tab, you can edit these values:
In this drop box, you can enter wich theater the scenario is set in.
In this edit box, you can enter the number of cells the north edge of the visible map is from the top of the map. This value must be more than 0, or else Red Alert or the Red Alert map editor will crash.
In this edit box, you can enter the number of cells the west edge of the visible map is from the left of the map. This value must be more than 0, or else Red Alert or the Red Alert map editor will crash.
In this edit box, you can enter the number of cells the east edge of the visible map is from the west edge of the visible map. This value plus the value in Y must never be more than 127, or else Red Alert or the Red Alert map editor will crash.
In this edit box, you can enter the number of cells the south edge of the visible map is from the north edge of the visible map. This value plus the value in X must never be more than 127, or else Red Alert or the Red Alert map editor will crash.