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Command & Conquer: Generals/Unused Content in the Original/Missions and Maps

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This is a sub-page of Command & Conquer: Generals/Unused Content in the Original.

The various missions and maps that are included with the game are another part featuring lots of unused stuff.

First of all, due to the way the map editor works, the map previews that can be seen in multiplayer are generated for all maps. This includes maps that cannot be selected in multiplayer, including the mission maps, the shell map (that plays on the title screen), and in the expansion pack the Generals Challenge maps and even the debug maps.

Second, in the original game, the mission maps were created when the old generals system of the prototype still existed. Therefore, the factions that appear in the mission are still titled teamChinaSecretPolice, teamGLAWarlordCommand, et cetera. Some maps also try to disable units which no longer exist in the game, such as the missile team.

Originally, all factions had eight missions per campaign. One was cut from each campaign for some reason.

Cut USA Mission

Command&ConquerGenerals-USA05.png

Digging through the Maps.big file, there was supposedly a mission during development which was going to be set between the fourth and fifth mission. Named USA05, opening the map in WorldBuilder contains a town with civilian buildings and a hotel, 3 bridges on the river that leads to another land, and a developer message made from tiles saying it needs an airport.

The objective is unknown although only one script is left with the hilarious title EXCUSE_ME_PLEASE was used for intro.

Removed GLA Mission

The third GLA mission was completely removed from the game.

In this mission, the civilians of Zhambul have been subject to Chinese propaganda and thus switched to the Chinese side. Your job is to use the Toxin Tractors to kill the traitors. You get access to several utilities like the Anthrax Bomb through the course of the mission to quickly kill many civilians. Once 300 civilians have been killed, the mission is completed.

This mission was likely considered way too brutal and ethically unacceptable, which led to its removal. It still shows in the ending of the GLA campaign.

Six years after the game's release, EA released the level as a free download.

GLA Mission 2

The 2nd GLA Mission contain a player named "Partisans". This might be related to the cut Partisan units, they would likely meant to appear as enemies in this mission.

USA Mission 4

The player's starting color is blue but switches to light blue/cyan as soon as the intro finishes.

USA Mission 5

The Chinese were meant to be playable in this mission alongside the USA. A proof of this can be seen in a pre-release game testing video or by editing Players, Teams, and Scripts in WorldBuilder. The units that they're cutting escape routes for GLAs in the intro cutscene were originally Dragon Tanks and Battlemasters, not Crusaders. The Chinese statistics screen shows a part of this chase with Chinese units.
Interestingly, both factions didn't use shared team colors, meaning USA appears as blue, China as red. Controllable units of different faction colors are still possible in the final game, the pilots you have to rescue in the second USA mission are colored red even when controlled by you.

(Source: YouTube)


Chinese Mission 2

Originally, the objective of this mission was completely different. You had to prevent the GLA from launching terrorist attacks on various famous buildings in Hong Kong. If you managed to protect the buildings, you were rewarded with additional troops. This was most likely removed because it was too reminiscent of 9/11, and instead you're just left to destroying the GLA base. The terror teams and their paths are still in the map scripting but the corresponding attack scripts have been deleted. For this reason, there are leftover sounds telling you to upgrade to radar (for detecting the terrorists). The troop support on the other hand has been made a regular feature of the map. There were five targets in total, they were as follows:

  • 1: Civilian highrise (at the coast, second building from the right counting from the road leading to the convention center).
  • 3: Skyscraper (right before the toxin base).
  • 4: Hotel (behind the toxin base).
  • 5: Hotel (right in front of the convention center).

It becomes obvious from the list that the second target is missing. This building appears to have been removed; the waypoint points to the field where you build up your base.

  • Apparently, you were unable to build a War Factory yourself. Instead, you had to find a "surplus base" which contained a War Factory for you to use. Maybe this was a bit too boring? It wouldn't fit anywhere on the current map either, so the map must have been different at some point.
  • There used to be a cutscene where an EMP bomb stopped a large GLA assault. The developers possibly considered it a bit too early to introduce this weapon.

Chinese Mission 3

This mission contains loads of unused waypoints as well as scripts which would reveal the river and the city. Could have been for the intro somehow, but ultimately their purpose is unknown.

Chinese Mission 4

This mission has a team which references a non-existing unit "GLAInfantryAssassin". It's actually a cut GLA unit, it's textures can be found in Zero Hour and the Sneak Peak.

Chinese Mission 8

Not much remains of this mission other than text references and an unfinished, untextured map that consists of a valley surrounded by hills and no objects placed whatsoever. The valley is shaped like a spindle cell (Gets larger in the middle).