Author: DvDWell, while playing the missions, you might have noticed that on some maps, buildings had different names than they would have on skirmish maps; that some things were not buildable or were stronger. Perhaps the best example is 'McNeil' unit (from the Capture McNeil Nod mission) that looks like a mutant but is a lot stronger and has a different voice.
However, when we search through the rules.ini, there is no McNeil unit to be found. So how do the Westwood guys pull this off? Simply by putting
updated rules.ini code into their maps. This is easy, as maps are simply text files with a different extension. Let me show you an example. This can be found as-is in the nod11a.map file, when opened with wordpad:
CODE
[MUTANT]
Name=Jake McNeil
Category=Soldier
Primary=Vulcan3
CrushSound=SQUISHY2
TiberiumProof=no
TiberiumHeal=no
Strength=20000
Armor=concrete
TechLevel=-1
Sight=6
Speed=5
Owner=GDI
Cost=900
Points=12
VoiceSelect=09-I000,09-I004,09-I006
VoiceMove=09-I002,09-I004,09-I006
VoiceAttack=09-I002,09-I004,09-I006
As you can see, McNeil actually
is the [MUTANT] unit, but they changed quite a few things: the 'mutant' suddenly suddenly goes by a name and appears amazingly vital.
You may wonder now why they did not just create a new 'mcneil' unit in this map. That's because you can only
edit existing rules.ini objects! Another example from the same map:
CODE
[GHOST]
TechLevel=-1
This basically removed Ghost Stalker from the techtree in that mission.
But there is more. If you are a more experience mapper, you probably know the invisible light posts. However, some of them are just way too bright by default. Again, in nod11a.map we find:
CODE
[INGRNLMP]
LightVisibility=1000
LightIntensity=0.01
LightRedTint=0.01
LightGreenTint=1.5
LightBlueTint=0.01
Here they basically decreased the brightness of this lamppost. This comes in handy if you want different green light posts in your map. Simply edit, say, INREDLAMP to give a green shade, only brighter/dimmer than the standard one, and use it in your map.
You can go pretty far with this; infact, the only thing you can NOT do, is create a NEW object.
This post has been edited by TitanMarkII: Nov 2 2006, 11:25 PM