« CAPTURE PACK »
ADDING THE CAPTURE PACK TO MODS

Step 1: Downloading

First off you need to download this pack (latest version is available here). The only file you need to activate the Capture Pack graphics within your mod is ECACHECAPTURE.MIX. Copy this file and include it within your mod when you distribute it. The naming of the file is unique so it will not conflict with any other mod files you may have.

Step 2: Notes Before We Begin

Now comes that hard part, you have successfully included the graphics for the Capture Pack within your mod, now you need to activate the logic so it works correctly. This is where certain issues arise:

• Your own additional units your mod may include are obviously not covered by this pack and will not see any changes since there are no graphics for them. Should you want to make your units have modified versions, you need to modify the graphics of your voxels and produce duplicates of them, each duplicate with a different colour scheme. The naming convention is as follows (where xxxx is the ID for your unit):
  Gxxxx - Allied Colour Version
  Nxxxx - Soviet Colour Version
  Yxxxx - Yuri Colour Version
  You do need to remember that your normal unit is still in your own .mix files, and so you only need to provide duplicates of the two other sides that the unit is not available for. For example lets say you added in the Chrono Prison to the Allies with your mod, and it's ID was CHRP. You will need to extract out all the voxel and hva files relating to that unit and duplicate them again, so there is now two copies (three including the copy still normally inside your mod files). These other two copies are the Soviet and Yuri versions of the unit. After modifying the units appropriately, rename the duplicates so they correspond to the naming convention above. So the Soviet versions of the CHRP becomes NCHRP, and Yuri's become YCHRP. Place these modified voxels of your own inside the ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file.
  Note: Even though there are restrictions of units in the Capture Pack, in the ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file there are some recoloured versions of the units I am not using anyway, just in case that in your mod you may want to use them unlike the normal YR.

• The other issue is the overload bug in Yuri's Revenge which hinder the [VehicleTypes] list so no buildable unit in the game can be numbered higher than 101. Because since you add in two new duplicate units, you need to add in two new entries into that list. Overall the normal Capture Pack so far requires around 40 new entries into that list, that will become more if you want to add in your own. By default with the normal RULESMD.INI file, you will end up going over 101 units and so screwing up the AI's producing facilities, which cannot be allowed to happen. The way to solve this is to stick ALL normally unbuildable units over 101 in the list (this includes civilian units, placeholder units, unloading Ore Miner units etc). After doing this you will find you have a lot more space now to add in new units, for me I was not able to start number at 45 up to 100, which have me 55 extra unit placings. Remember these numbers are from the default RULESMD.INI file, your mod may have included more units so you have a larger number of buildable units, and a larger number of duplicate entries needed. Do some calculations to find out exactly how many new units you intend to add in through the Capture Pack, if you run out of space, you will have to sacrifice some. Also remember certain Capture Pack units are aircraft, and go under [AircraftTypes] instead, which has no problems. This is a real annoying issue with Yuri's Revenge.

• You will also need to take note that certain units in the Capture Pack have alternate cameos, but not all. As updated versions are released more cameos will also be released. Cameos are done in the same way as voxels, and uses the same naming convention. If you wish to add in your own modified cameos, follow the same steps above and deviate accordingly. Extract out your normal cameo file, duplicate it once more so you have two copies of the cameo (and veteran cameo if necessary), then modify those two to suit your needs, and rename them adding in the certain prefix of the two additional sides that will now be receiving that unit (G, N or Y). Again place these modified cameos inside the ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file for easy reference.

Step 3: ARTMD.INI Editing

Right, now that you have done any modifications you need to your own voxel files you may wish to add into your mods version of the Capture Pack, it is time to do the .INI editing to activate the duplicate units! Let's start with the ARTMD.INI file. Open your mods version of the ARTMD.INI file and go to the vehicle art section. You will see a section for each unit in the game organized under their ID's. For the units you have included in the Capture Pack of your mod, you will need to duplicate the certain unit's section twice, covering the other two side's colour schemes of the unit that doesn't normally build the unit. Now the ARTMD.INI file also defines what cameo the certain unit uses, so in the example below, let's say I am duplicating the Rhino Tank to include the Allied and Yuri versions that in the ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file, and also defining the alternate cameos since the current Capture Pack includes alternate Rhino Tank cameos:

The Normal Rhino Tank entry is here:
[HTNK] ; Rhino heavy tank
Voxel=yes
Remapable=yes
Cameo=HTNKICON
AltCameo=HTNKUICO
PrimaryFireFLH=150,0,100
;GEF;UseTurretShadow=yes
;GEF;PBarrelLength=250
;GEF;SBarrelLength=250
;GEF;TurretOffset=-16
;GEF;WalkFrames=15

And now you duplicate it twice underneath so it accommodates the Allied and Yuri versions of the unit:
[GHTNK] ; Rhino heavy tank - Allied Version
Voxel=yes
Remapable=yes
Cameo=GHTNKICON
AltCameo=GHTNKUICO
PrimaryFireFLH=150,0,100
;GEF;UseTurretShadow=yes
;GEF;PBarrelLength=250
;GEF;SBarrelLength=250
;GEF;TurretOffset=-16
;GEF;WalkFrames=15

[YHTNK] ; Rhino heavy tank - Yuri Version
Voxel=yes
Remapable=yes
Cameo=YHTNKICON
AltCameo=YHTNKUICO
PrimaryFireFLH=150,0,100;GEF;UseTurretShadow=yes
;GEF;PBarrelLength=250
;GEF;SBarrelLength=250
;GEF;TurretOffset=-16
;GEF;WalkFrames=15

Now repeat this process for all the units that the Capture Pack adds plus any additional units you may have included specifically for your mod. If your unit does not have a modified cameo for each version, just use the same cameo for all three, so in the example above use Cameo=HTNKICON and AltCameo=HTNKUICO for the two duplicates instead of unique ID's.

Save and Close the ARTMD.INI file, we're done here.

Step 4: RULESMD.INI Editing

Now it is time for the most important and difficult part of the tutorial, the modifications to the RULESMD.INI file. First off you need to add in the duplicated units to the [VehicleTypes] (or [AircraftTypes] ) list. So let's say I followed the above instructions and moved all unbuildable units so they have numbers higher than 101, by default now 45 is the next free number (you probably will have to start at a higher number since your mod may have more units). So for our lovely Rhino Tank additions, we add in:
45=NHTNK
46=YHTNK
47=...

And then carrying on with any other duplicate unit that you have done, the current 40+ new placings for the units that are in V2.0 of the Capture Pack, and any others you may add in.

Next comes the main part of the new units, and the most unorthodox. First off you need to find the normal section of the unit you are duplicating (either a normal WW unit, or a new unit your mod has added in), and you need to duplicate it two more times, changing the ID's accordingly to match the ID's for the unit you added in the [VehicleTypes] list. So for our HTNK (Rhino), the two duplicates have headers GHTNK and YHTNK. Do not modify the normal HTNK in any way, but you must make the two duplicates are TechLevel=-1, and, if your unit normally is a start game unit, AllowedToStartInMultiplayer=no and finally add/modify the specific Owner= and ForbiddenHouses= tag to suit the unit so the duplicate unit is ONLY available for houses of the side it is allocated to. What the tag includes depends on the side it is for, so if it is a [Gxxxx] unit, it needs:
Owner=British,French,Germans,Americans,Alliance
ForbiddenHouses=Russians,Confederation,Africans,Arabs,YuriCountry

While if it is a [Nxxxx] unit is needs:
Owner=Russians,Confederation,Africans,Arabs
ForbiddenHouses=British,French,Germans,Americans,Alliance,YuriCountry

And finally if it is a [Yxxxx] unit it needs:
Owner=YuriCountry
ForbiddenHouses=British,French,Germans,Americans,Alliance,Russians, Confederation,Africans,Arabs

Now you have complete duplicate units. However the duplicates cannot be built (concluded due to the TechLevel=-1 tag), which may strike you as weird as the whole point of adding in the new units is to have them buildable when another side captures the Prerequisite='s. However this is done with good reason, and brings us to our final .INI modding step:

Step 5: Game Mode .INI Editing

Now we have to edit the correct .INI files to make the normal unit unbuildable to the other two sides, and activate the duplicate units to make them buildable. Since if we did this in the RULESMD.INI file the changes would affect the Single Player missions as well as Multiplayer games (we only want this logic activated in Multiplayer/Skirmish) it would most likely conflict with certain rules settings within mission files causing an internal error, and the AI somewhat ignores the restrictions if they were done in the RULESMD.INI file. The solution to this is to modify every single Game Mode override .INI file to activate the units correctly so Skirmish/Multiplayer games are affected but Single Player mode stays as it is. This is a tedious job, but worth it in the end.

First off you will need to extract out all the extra MPxxxxxxxxMD.INI files you mod adds as well as all the normal MPxxxxxxxxMD.INI files out of the RA2MD.MIX file.

Then you will need to add in the extra code to get the units working, this is specific to each unit, so you will need to repeat this step for every single group of units you have added in, being normal Capture Pack units and additional ones you have done. Remember some MPxxxxxxxxMD.INI files may already have certain modifications done to some units, so instead of adding in the modified sections you simply add in the tags underneath the existing section. Let's revisit our Rhino Tank example:

Firstly you need to make the existing Rhino Tank unbuildable to the other two sides (Allies and Yuri):
[HTNK]
ForbiddenHouses=British,French,Germans,Americans,Alliance,YuriCountry

Then you need to activate the two duplicates so they are specifically called when the appropriate structure is captured:
[GHTNK]
TechLevel=2

[YHTNK]
TechLevel=2

Repeat this process appropriately for all unit's being added in, and you need to do this for every single MPxxxxxxxxMD.INI file.

Step 6: Finishing Off

Finally we have finished! All that needs to be done now is the modified .INI files go back into your normal mod files, and both them and the ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file be distributed as part of your mod! Done!

Remember as new updates to the Capture Pack are released, more graphics will be included in the newer version's ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file. If you wish to update your mod to include the new duplicates, add in the new version's units to your mods ECACHECAPTURE.MIX file and modify the .INI's appropriately to add them in!