Proto:Command & Conquer: Generals/Build 98 Alpha

This is a sub-page of Proto:Command & Conquer: Generals.

This prototype was released by a former playtester after the game went gold. Unfortunately, the build doesn't have the executable, essentially making the entirety of its content unused. The build seems to contain an assortment of files from various development phases and it may not be an actual build, rather a collection of files.

The build also contains assets unrelated to Command & Conquer: Generals, these might be leftovers from other SAGE projects being developed at the time. For more information, check the LegacyArt and GDFDatabase sections below.

Sub-Pages

Models
Models of things that never made it to the final game.

Graphics
Early selection icons for some units as well as some concept art.

Movies
Transmission videos during missions, animated generals' portraits and much more.

Maps
Various maps from different stages of development.

Sound files
Early\placeholder SFX and voicelines for units.

LegacyArt

The folder "LegacyArt" contains some rather interesting models.

AISeal

This SEAL model doesn't look like the actual SEAL model found in this prototype which could hit that this is a very, very old relic of development. Some of his animations consist of him going prone, firing while prone and firing on the move. Perhaps it was intended for Infantry units in Generals to go prone just like in old Command & Conquer Games.

The unused Prone module in the final game further hints the Infantry prone mechanism from past Command & Conquer games was to appear in Generals.

Play media

Animation set

Cmdo-Skin

A relatively high detailed model of a soldier, this model was probably created for a Tiberium-styled game unrelated to Generals since its main mesh refers to it as NOD TROOPER. He has a full unique animation set. This model is used by the Nod Commando and the American Soldiers mentioned in the GDF files below. It's identical to the model named NIFOOTMAN used by the Asian Empire soldiers in the earliest released screenshots of the game although the texture is not the same.

Play media

Animation set
A screenshot showing the Footmen units who use a model identical to Cmdo-Skin but with a different texture.

GXMammothFX

Same with Cmdo-Skin, this Mammoth Tank model was also made for a Tiberium-styled game, judging by the G in its model name, "GXMammothFX", which probably stands for GDI, and its file path ("..\Art\Models\GDI\Mammoth\GXMammothFX.w3d") in the file Generals(Assets).gdf. Its use in the earliest screenshots of the game was either placeholder or that the developer team intended for the Mammoth Tank from the original Command and Conquer to appear in the game in some capacity.

GDFDatabase

There is a folder in the build named GDFDatabase, four of the six files there use the GDF extension, no such file extension is used in the final game.

It seems that the game was originally reliant on those GDF files to store its object data, unlike the final game which uses INI files. This could explain why some prototype maps, when opened in the Worldbuilder, ask you to replace missing objects despite said objects being in the game, because these maps were created early in development when the game used these GDF files and those objects in these maps call their data entries from the now non-existent GDF files. These files share a similar language syntax.

Some of these files contain data unrelated to Generals such as GDI and NOD or Red Alert units and buildings, although unlikely, these could be leftovers from cancelled games also built on the SAGE engine. Some of the files meant for Generals are very early leftovers since they reference the original three factions - American Strike Force, Asian Empire and Europa Alliance.

Generals(Asset Types).gdf

Generals(Asset Types).gdf

Generals(Assets).gdf

Generals(Assets).gdf

Generals(Data).gdf

Generals(Data).gdf

Generals(Definitions).gdf

Generals(Definitions).gdf

Generals.gdb

Generals.gdb

Generals.gdp

 // Project file <Generals.gdp>

Image.gdf

Image.gdf

MappedImages.gdf

 #include "Image.gdf"
 
 // ============================================================================
 ItemSet: MappedImages
 {
 	ItemType: GFX/Image; 
 };
 
 #include "MappedImagesGDF/GenericGUI256.gdf"
 #include "MappedImagesGDF/ControlBar256.gdf"

Generals System

The game was originally supposed to have a generals system, as its name suggests. It worked similar but differently to the generals system which eventually got used in the Zero Hour expansion pack - you did not select the general from the menu, but instead just selected your faction and then got the opportunity in-game to select your desired general. As a result, there were no vanilla factions like in Zero Hour. The generals system was removed from the final game mostly because the developers thought it would just weaken gameplay.

Every faction had three generals. They were as follows:

America Tank Command
America Special Forces
America Airforce
China Red Army
China Special Weapons
China Secret Police
Fundamentalists Terror Cell
Fundamentalists Biowar Command
Fundamentalists Warlord Command

This general system was supposed to offer bonuses and penalties for the player depending on their choice of the chosen general. This was slightly added back in Zero Hour but not in the way it was originally planned for the base game. Some of which are commented out, suggesting behavior modules weren't fully finalized by the time this build was compiled.

American Tank Command

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in training time for his Supply Trucks.
A 20% or 15% increase in cost for all trained aircraft.
All trained tanks, including Predator Tanks would start as veterans.

America Special Forces

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in training time for his Infantry, including Rangers.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in building time for his Patriot Battery and other defensive building.
All trained Rangers, SEALs and Pathfinders would start as veterans.

America Airforce

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in building time for his Patriot Battery and other defensive buildings.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in training time for his Predator Tanks and other tanks.
All trained Aircraft units would start as veterans.

China Red Army

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in training time for his Infantry, including Conscripts.
A 20% or 15% increase in cost for all trained aircraft.
All trained tanks, including Overlord Tanks would start as veterans.

China Special Weapons

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in building time for his base defenses.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in training time for his tanks.
All trained Artillery units would start as veterans.

China Secret Police

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in building time for his propaganda units.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in training time for his aircraft.
All trained Hackers would start as veterans.

Fundamentalists Terror Cell

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in building time for his bomb units.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in training time for his Scorpion Tanks.
All trained Infantry, including Rebels would start as veterans.

Fundamentalists Biowar Command

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in building time for his base defenses.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in training time for his Infantry, including Rebels.
All trained Toxin Tractors would start as veterans.

Fundamentalists Warlord Command

A 20% decrease in cost and a 15% decrease in building time for his Infantry, including Rebels.
A 20% increase in cost and a 15% increase in training time for his aircraft.
All trained Technicals would start as veterans.

GUIEdit

GUIEdit is a development tool included with the prototype game that edits the window (WND) files which make up the user interface. It still works today (but only in compatibility mode) and can still edit the WND files, but it has certain glitches.

Text

This game does not contain much text yet at this stage, but what it contains is rather interesting.

Asian Empire

Europa Alliance

African Warlords

It's leftovers from very early development stages of the game, these were some of the original factions - African Warlords and Europa Alliance. Concept art shows the African Warlords would be united by a former European general in WW1-era clothes, armed with traditional weapons (such as spears and bows) and WW2-era weapons left from colonial times, riding on wild animals, and even use some creatures made with black market bio-technologies. Only the Asian Empire made it far into development. They were redesigned into China for the final game.

NATO Tank Command

NATO Special Forces

NATO Air Force

These strings are for the American generals, but they referred to as belonging to a NATO faction, which is probably an old name for USA.

America
Tank
Command

America 
Special 
Forces

America
Air
Force

China
Red
Army

China
Special
Weapons

China
Secret
Police

Fundamentalist
Terror
Cell

Fundamentalist
BioWar
Command

Fundamentalist
Warlord
Command

These strings would've been used for picking your choice of General in the command bar.

Typhoon

Apparently a scrapped Chinese aircraft. Many aircraft in real life have the designation Typhoon, and it is unknown what aircraft this referred to.

Anti-Tank
Gun

This sounds almost like a name an upgrade would bear, and is strangely similar to the Anti-Tank Grenades that appear just a few lines further down (and also in the final game).

Smart
Grenades

An upgrade for America, for the Ranger. This may have worked similarly to the flashbangs in the final game.

Ranger Scout Drones

The Scout Drone was actually an upgrade for the Ranger. It can be seen in a pre-release video.

Seal
Training

Obviously something planned for the removed SEAL infantry. It may have been a health or weapon bonus.

Sentry
Training

Another one of these, but for the Fundamentalists.

Battlemaster

Perhaps at one point the battlemaster tank belonged to the Fundamentalists, since it's not found in the Chinese text strings, but in the Fundamentalists strings. It's also mentioned in the Sneak Peak.

Assassin Sniper

Honestly one would assume it's a unit but no, it's classified as an upgrade!

Coding

There's not much coding in here yet, but there are some surprises to be found here.

BaseBuildRange = 200.0         ; furthest away from other buildings you can build stuff

This is eerily similar to classic Command & Conquer, where your build range was restricted to the immediate vicinity of the MCV. The game would have played much differently with this, so it's good that they decided to forgo this.

DozerRepairHealthPerSecond = 1.0 ;Repair this much health per second when repairing

This was probably removed so it could be set on a per-dozer basis, rather than globally. The other problem is that one health point (rather than percent) per second is extremely slow, and even with the old values, it would have taken the dozer fifteen minutes to repair a command center.

MinLowEnergyProductionSpeed = 0.5
MaxLowEnergyProductionSpeed = 0.8

Probably it was for the cut GLA Wind Powerplant to simulate fluctuations of wind force.

  WeaponBonus = CRATE_BONUS_ONE RATE_OF_FIRE 1.5 ; a Salvage unit gets more ROF when it picks up salvage crates
  WeaponBonus = CRATE_BONUS_TWO RATE_OF_FIRE 2 
  WeaponBonus = CRATE_BONUS_THREE RATE_OF_FIRE 3 
  WeaponBonus = CRATE_BONUS_FOUR RATE_OF_FIRE 4 
  WeaponBonus = CRATE_BONUS_FIVE RATE_OF_FIRE 5

This chunk of code that persists in the Quad Cannon and the Battlemaster weapon codes suggests that the rate of fire would increase when picking up salvage crates. Interestingly, Technical and Quad Cannon units already have separate weapon lines for the first and second upgrade, just like how it's done in the final game.


WeaponBonus = HORDE DAMAGE 1.5        ; when in a horde, weapons get 150% of normal damage

Cut Horde bonus. In the final game, Horde only affects firing speed. Note that, citation, "the HORDE bonus values are hokey and for testing purposes only.".