Quite long time since last public progress update of any sorts, this newspost will bring you some media and other small things that'll hopefully show where the project is headed towards. The title does not only reflect the fact that this is first newspost of the year for Project Phantom, it also means I am aiming for first public release during this year.
Website
Project Phantom website has been brought up-to-date, with new unit & structure profiles that come with in-game screenshots, some extra visual appeal to the layout of the site and new 'Media' section which currently mainly has few screenshots of the mod.
Media
Let's start from one of the more important aspects of this progress/media update. As you can see from the screenshot below, several Dominion structures have had a graphical makeover, replacing the recolored Westwood assets with all new artwork, and rest of them are to follow in future. This change has also altered the way some of the structures work, as well. In-depth detail on individual units & structures can be found on website. Another thing to note is currently work-in-progress Tundra theatre, a collaboration between me & m7 of Final War fame that will eventually replace Arctic theatre.
Click on the image to view it in a full size.
And no, I am not going to limit this graphical overhaul just to Dominion structures, other sides will also get makeover, in due a time. Phantom Power Core shown in image below.
Click on the image to view animation of the structure. It looks bit better in-game than in this, to be fair.
This of course means that mod is going to have some civilian/misc. eye candy as well, here's pictures of some doodads and those country flag things in-game, respectively.
Click on the images to view them in a full size.
And finally, 3 misc. screenshots from website Media section that were taken during beta testing online games of Project Phantom.
Click on the images to view them in a full size.
What's next?
In near future you could expect more media and showcases, in form of screenshots and possibly video footage as well. Mod content I am currently working on, aside from already mentioned structure graphic overlay & Tundra theatre along with other terrain improvements, involve technology branches, support powers and stolen technology. On top of that, I've been trying to do some map work, replacing some not-so-good or otherwise unfitting maps with more interesting ones. All of this will be showcased eventually too, in one form or another.
Final notes
Project Phantom is also currently looking for people capable of filling following roles in development.
- Infantry Artist.
- Mapper
- Concept/Promotional Art Creator.
Hello everyone! After spending some vacations at Cabo Frio and, once I returned, losing the cpu of my desktop due to overheat, I'm back to write news. I've missed a lot of interesting news so far and we are still on day 11.
I've said in the previous news to "expect some cool surprises in 2012" and we already have the first one named "SHiFT". It's the first patch for Tiberian Sun, since Extended Tiberian Sun, that adds modding features to the game. Unlike ETS, SHiFT uses Syringe to inject .dll code into game.exe instead of hacking it.
There is also a tool called TSunmix, which will help developpers to create tools that manipulates .mix files, since Olaf's mix code is not exactly an easy code to be understood. And there are other things which are listed below:
The Big Bang News
-> SHiFT 0.05 has been released. SHiFT is a patch that extends Tiberian Sun with new moddable features. The version 0.05 is a very early version that allows you to modify the GUI, specially sidebar and let you do buildings that behave like Yuri's Revenge industrial plant (reduce price of certain unit types), get constant income (like oil derricks), get a spy sat and also allows your units to do random damage or shake the screen, among other things.
Joshy wrote:
And so enters my second project that I have been working on. (somewhat)
This is the next patch I started after stopping development on Zeus, and releasing it to the community. It's called SHiFT and is better than the last patch I did in almost every single way. Better code, easier workflow, more features, and less prone to causing issues/bugs are just a few things off the top of my head. Naturally it's a DLL which is injected via Syringe. This is not a binary patch.
Since this patch is relatively new, there aren't too many things in it yet. But I'll go ahead and post the current features, nearly completed features, and planned features for future versions. Version 0.05 is the latest currently.
-> TSunmix has been announced. It is a command line tool that does several operations with .mix files. The current version is 0.32 and it allows you to list, extract files and decrypt mix files, among other things. Download it HERE.
-> Red Alert 1.5 has been announced. This is a mod created by Volgin and EVA-251 for Yuri's Revenge with Ares that brings a sequel to the original Red Alert story into the game.
EVA-251 wrote:
Red Alert 1.5 was a small pet project of Volgin's that started really as implementing some RA2 units into TS using Renegade 2 voxels. I offered to help and over the course of months, the mod became gradually more sophisticated, adding tesla units, super-weapons and other things that made it more than just a pet project.
A new vision for the mod was developed, that of a Red Alert sequel that aimed to keep the theme and spirit of the original Red Alert while taking a more realistic view of the warfare and geopolitics that underlie the universe.
This vision was not compatible with the TS engine's limitations, thus requiring a move to Ares-powered Yuri's Revenge.
-> The guys over CNCNZ.com did recently post a Roundtable Discussion with their staff talking about Generals 2, Tiberium Alliances and modding, at the very end of the last year. The other cool thing that was posted recently is a new episode of C&C Legos: Season 4.
Hey everyone! Happy new year. Here, in PPM, we always wish everyone to be happy, healthy and that your dreams become a reality, regardless if you celebrate anything today. Enjoy your life and praise the good things that you have, because life is only one and only Kane lives in death.
Unfortunately, while we have the tradition of bringing something new in the first day of january, we are not doing anything new today. I'd be lying to you if I said that it is lack of time. It is not lack of time. I am enjoying my free time playing too much 3DS, specially these games that were given away with the Nintendo Ambassador campaign. Right now, I'm playing a lot of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. But my inactivity here does not mean the death of this place, so don't worry. There will be good things comming to PPM soon. Just not now.
Our plans for 2012 are expanding the site to cover other games (not necessarily Command & Conquer) and using VXLSE III to help people to create 3D models optimized for the latest game engines. We may not necessarily finish this mission in 2012, but we'll certainly progress with that, like what we did in 2011. The new C&C games like Generals 2, Tiberium Alliances and even Tiberian Twilight are not moddable, but they'll still be covered, since they'll certainly be an important source of inspiration for many modders that lurks in this community. We'll keep motivating modders and play with the old and moddable games (including RA3) and we persistently show people that playing modded old games is still a very fun experience.
But that's not all. What makes PPM work is its community and that's why it is very much alive if you browse the forums. There are several new mod releases, a tons of new public graphics to use in mods, some new tutorials and maps... and ocasionally, we have events going on as well. You, as community member, can organize these things in our forums and we'll support it. Post content, organize events and even post news in Community News forum. PPM progresses through your actions and your content. I think everybody who participates from our forums may have noticed that.
Anyway, I hope you've been enjoying PPM and expect some cool surprises in 2012. Stay tuned and happy new year!
Due-to the extraordinary progression on the staff patches and builds of Twisted Insurrection, there has been over 190 changes and additions to Twisted Insurrection: Public Beta 3 which featured 239 Changes and additions since Public Beta 2. With this in mind, we are more than pleased to announce Twisted Insurrection: Public Beta 3 Re-Issue!
The Public Beta 3 Re-Issue features major game-play and balance changes along with fixing several bugs in the original Public Beta 3 release (including a fix for the Final TI Map Editor), there are also new multiplayer maps, campaign/challenge missions, several updates and changes to the campaign as a whole, revamped AI, units available and several performance enhancers to specific maps and the mod in general which results in less lag! For a full view of the changelog and all of the new additions and features, visit the download topic.
Twisted Insurrection: Tiberian Dawn - Nod Victory
The year is now 2019. The Tiberian World now stands with a very uncertain fate. The two most powerful and influential forces on the planet are trapped in a never ending dead lock of war and combat. Whilst the Global Defense Initiative has suffered many blows and military defeats, the faction itself still stands strong and has shown the world its amazing ability to endure harsh punishments and has recovered much lost ground. The Brotherhood of Nod has struggled and triumphed over its enemies, only for its victory to be short lived by the death of Kane the Messiah, causing an ever lasting deterioration through the Brotherhood and leading to defeats and chaos amongst the large faction. With the end of the First Tiberian War comes the dawn and age of a new, second Tiberian War, with new terrifying possibilities and potential. The fate of Earth lies dangerously unknown. Welcome to the Twisted Insurrection commander.
"Sir... I fear an Insurrection is imminent..." - Anonymous
Players should read the instructions on how to install to avoid any issues, as well as the known bugs and issues thread to prevent any confusions and false bug reporting. The Twisted Insurrection team would like all bug reports to be filed in this forum in order to keep the forum organization.
On the 27th and 28th of December, several C&C players will be playing their favorite C&C games online to help boost CNCNet publicity, these games also include Twisted Insurrection. For a chance to play online against other Twisted Insurrection staff and fans, join in the fun on the 27th and 28th by running CNCNet.exe and clicking NETWORK on the TI Main Menu! Note that you can play online at any time with ease provided there are other TI Staff/players online and available.
For more information on Twisted Insurrection, check out our pages around the web!
You can view the Change Log to see all changes that have been made since DTA 1.10, or you can of course just download the mod and find out for yourself
In the last news, I've reported an interview conducted with EA CIRE by the german United-Forum site and there is a particular question that calls attention with today's big news:
Quote:
UF: What is going on with "Alliances"?
According to EA_CIRE those are just internet domains - for now.
Just internet domains, sir? Are you sure? It's actually a new game that is being announced at ea.com!
Quote:
Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances brings the battle to your browser in this epic strategy MMO. Compete or ally with your friends in a worldwide war for precious resources. Based in the Command and Conquer Tiberium story world, C&C Tiberium Alliances allows players to experience C&C in a brand new way. Using HTML 5 technology, players are able to access their game from any web accessible browser making this one of the first truly portable mmo strategy titles to hit the market.
Conquer Everywhere - Hardcore strategy gameplay available wherever you are. Play on your web browser from any html5 compatible browser or mobile device all for free.
Build Alliances - Diplomacy can get you everywhere. Build alliances & conquer new territory through leveraging your social network strategically.
Grow your Empire - Expand your territory by gathering resources, defeating enemies and taking over new areas of a dynamically updating map.
It should look like this:
Unfortunately, I couldn't check the site on my own. It is overloaded at the moment or offline.
Anyway, it should feature GDI, Nod and the Forgotten, according to those who managed to play it.
And, as the name said, it is not finished yet. So, wait a bit until EA properly announce it.
Generals 2 has been announced and EA has announced, as features, the engine Frostbite 2 with its amazing visuals and downlodable content (units, maps and even factions) for the game after its release. After some research for references on this Frostbite 2 engine, we've figured out that it has no sort of modding support... and it doesn't even allow users to produce maps. So, our first impression was terrible: EA will milk our cash selling maps, units and factions and we'll not be able to do that on our own, right? For a modding community like PPM, this is a tragedy.
The good news is... that we might have overreacted. Or not... but the interview that United-Forum.de conducted with EA CIRE may improve our impression of the game. The interview was originally done in german and we, international community, do have an access to an english summary HERE. Here's a snippet:
Quote:
UF: Does BioWare Victory have plans to release tools for mapping and modding? Or do they share the DICE notion, that Frostbite 2 is too complex for modding?
There is much time left until 2013, so the final decision has not been made yet. EA_CIRE knows how important it is for the community to get proper mapping and modding tools and strongly makes their case in the development team. There is still hope for all those mappers and modders out there.
UF: Will there be a ladder kit?
Presumably not, considering none has been announced yet EA_CIRE states...
And, for those wondering what else does this interview reveals, here's our quick summary:
- EU is really European Union.
- There is no decision if units or factions provided in downloadable content will be free or not, but the focus will always be ballance.
- There is no final decision if campaign animations will be ingame only or if it will use full motion movies.
- Alliances are just internet domains for now.
In the last news we've mentioned IGN's interview, but apparently, email is ana amazing thing in our lives that allow us the whole media to interview us at once... so, IGN was not the only one who emailed JVC and the Bioware co-founder with questions. GameSpot also did it. Here's a snippet:
Quote:
GS: Fans are still smarting over Command & Conquer 4 and its perceived missteps. What would you say to anyone concerned that Generals 2 might stray too far from what made its predecessor so good?
Jon Van Caneghem: Generals 2 is a return to the roots of core C&C gameplay, balancing fast-paced action with strategic decision-making. The best C&C games are known for being accessible but also challenging to master and we are embracing that at the heart of the game design. Most importantly, we’ve heard the fans and we’re bringing back the elements of C&C they love--bases, resources, and giant armies.
And if I find out more interviews, I'll post their links and snippets in this news post.
"Oibles!" is a random trademark from Project Perfect Mod and Kane.
"He who loves the game, mods the game. He who mods the game, lives the game" is also a random trademark from Project Perfect Mod.
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