[HOWTO] Organizing Work Environment Setup - Renegade Tools

The Environment Setup Tutorial

This tutorial will attempt to learn you how to setup your entire working environment for creating maps in gMax and the free provided Renegade Public Tools v2.

It includes all the tools you need and they should be installed in this particular order:

1- The gMax Installation Files and Registration ByPass

2- The official Renegade Public Tools version 2

3- The unofficial LevelEditor from Tiberian Technologies for support with 4.0 Scripts Update

4- The Registry fixes i wrote which you *should* review, edit if needed, and then merge into your Registry by double clicking on it

5- Some Critical Assets required for making a map for Renegade in gMax/Renx

6- The XCC mixer i personally have been using since i don't know when, it's the best

Create the Installation folder

In this tutorial i will install EVERYTHING to do with mapping for Renegade in my folder on the E drive in RenegadeMapping.

It is best to choose a folder without any spaces in it or special characters such as C:\RenegadeMapping or D:\RenegadeMapping etc.

Create the folder now! And inside the RenegadeMapping folder create another folder and call it #Files (with the # so it is always listed at the top of the structure).

Now save the following file inside the #Files folder:

DOWNLOAD THE REQUIRED FILES PACKAGE HERE

End result should look simular to this:

Extracting the Archive

Extract the zip anyhow you like as long as you extract all the folders and files inside the #Files folder created earlier.

The end result should look simular to this:

Installing gMax

Go into the gMax 1.2 Installation Files folder and run gmax12.exe

Click next and accept the agreement. On the next window it will ask for the Installation destination.

Here click on the BROWSE button and goto your RenegadeMapping folder and create a folder there called gMax.

After installing gMax successfully must first run the Registration ByPass file.

Go inside the gMax 1.2 Installation Files folder again and double click on the file called 'Autodesk.reg'.

In some cases you will get a warning about it potentially being able to harm your computer, just ignore it, this is not gonna harm your computer in any way.

Click YES when it asks if you are sure if you want to continue:

When successful you will see the following message:

Installing the official Renegade Public Tools v2

Go into the Renegade Public Tools Installation File folder and simply run the Renegade_Tools_Installer_2.exe file.

Take note that you install both options 'Renegade Tools' AND 'RenX GMax Gamepack'. If you don't then gMax will be useless for makin maps for Renegade.

Again, we are going to install this into the RenegadeMapping folder we created earlier. So make sure you point the installer to that folder by clicking the Browse button:

Click NEXT to start installation, the next window will ask you where your gmax location is which is inside your RenegadeMapping\gMax

Check if the suggested destination is correct (in most cases it will be) and continue with the installation.

Tiberian Technologies 4.0 compatible LevelEditor

We now need copy the newer TT4.0 LevelEdit.exe and replace the older LevelEdit.exe

Go into the RenegadeMapping folder and into the TiberianTechnologies-LevelEdit Files folder, in here is only 1 file called 'LevelEdit.exe'.

Right click on the file and COPY it, now head into your just freshly installed RenegadeMapping\RenegadePublicTools\LevelEdit folder and PASTE and OVERWRITE the existing one there:

The Registry Fixes

Take very close attention to this!

First locate your Game2.exe, so goto the folder where you installed Renegade at, this is usually inside "C:\Westwood\Renegade" (for Retail both 32 and 64 bit) or "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\Command & Conquer The First Decade\Command & Conquer Renegade™\Renegade"

If you have 64 bit Windows and The First Decade it is mostlikely installed at "C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\Command & Conquer The First Decade\Command & Conquer Renegade™\Renegade\" notice the (x86) in the path?

So now that we located our Game2.exe we need to enter that into one of the 4 available .reg files.

- How on earth do i get the complete path to my Game2.exe?

Open your FILE-BROWSER (NOT webbrowser lol) and goto your installation folder for Renegade. Once there left click once in the addressbar, it will turn to normal text, copy it and simply append \Game2.exe to it, like so:

Now right click on the correct reg file and edit it with notepad.

Remember to use double backslashes between folders like in the possible examples below:

"D:\\EA GAMES\\Command & Conquer The First Decade\\Command & Conquer Renegade™\\Renegade\\Game2.exe"

"D:\\The First Decade\\Command & Conquer Renegade™\\Renegade\\Game2.exe"

"D:\\Westwood\\Renegade\\Game2.exe"

If you have 32 BIT Windows 7 and Retail Renegade then edit, run and merge the file : "InstallPath_Renegade_Retail_32.reg"

If you have 64 BIT Windows 7 and Retail Renegade then edit, run and merge the file : "InstallPath_Renegade_Retail_64.reg"

If you have 32 BIT Windows 7 and The First Decade then edit, run and merge the file : "InstallPath_Renegade_TFD_32.reg"

If you have 64 BIT Windows 7 and The First Decade then edit, run and merge the file : "InstallPath_Renegade_TFD_64.reg"

First LevelEdit Run

Goto your RenegadeMapping\RenegadePublicTools\LevelEdit\ folder and run the file LevelEdit.exe

A new window opens up with a empty window and two buttons OK and New...

Click on NEW and give it your nickname, zunnie in my case:

Now the screen should look like the following:

Double click on the entry with your nickname!

LevelEdit will now attempt to load hurray:

If you did the previous step correctly and merged the file with your registry then the LevelEdit should load up just fine and show you something like this:

If you did something wrong, it will crash when you load your modpackage with your nickname :/

To fix this, you have to do the previous step again and again until you figure out how to adjust the Registry file properly and merge it into the Registry.

Of course you can also post on the forums here, or ask me on IRC or Teamspeak 3 to help (irc.multiplayerforums.com and ts.multiplayerforums.com).

Assuming it all went fine, go ahead and CLOSE the LevelEdit again.

Folder Layout for your future New Map(s)

Goto your RenegadePublicTools\LevelEdit folder, you will see 5 folders present there:

Go into the Levels folder and create a folder called "C&C_Awesome", Inside the folder C&C_Awesome create another folder and call it "Includes"

The reasons for this are simple:

When you have made your map in Renx (gmax) you will export your terrain to your Levels\C&C_Awesome\ folder.

Now ofcourse you will use textures on your map which you setup in Renx, those textures have to be included in the mix file for your map.

The .TGA (or DDS in some cases) go into your Includes folder.

If you use music on your map or custom sounds they ALSO go into your Includes folder. Then you always have the files ready for creating your map mix file later on and it is a simple matter of dragging and dropping them into the XCC window explained later.

Your .TGA (and sometimes .DDS) files should ALL also go into your EditorCache folder else they will not showup in the LevelEdit.

So: Always copy your custom files into Includes, and the TGA/DDS ALSO go in EditorCache. Music and other files dont need to go in your EditorCache.

Setting up RenX (gMax)

If you properly merged the Autodesk.reg into your Registry you can start using RenX (gMax) right away.

Open the RenX program through your startmenu under RenegadeTools. You do not start gMax. Always RenX.

Somewhere after clicking Continue and OK you have to choose a Driver to use, always select Direct3D:

If everything went cool, we now got this screen:

Goto Customize->Configure User Paths

Click on the Materials line and then click the Modify button.

Now pay close attention: Go into the textures folder (so: RenegadeMapping\gMax\gamepacks\Westwood\RenX\textures\) and then add a backslash \ to the end of the path, like on the screenie below:

If you do not add the backslash there, it will not properly select the folder... so make sure you do that..

End result should look like this:

Now close RenX again and proceed to the next steps below.

Installing the Renegade Textures

Goto your #Files folder and inside the Gmax Asset Files and then textures, COPY all these textures (ctrl+a to select them all) to your textures folder from RenX so inside "RenegadeMapping\gMax\gamepacks\Westwood\RenX\textures\"

End result should look like this:

Now you can apply several textures from your folder in RenX and actually see them too...

The Scenes folder

Copy the Scenes folder inside Gmax Asset Files to your RenegadeMapping\gMax\gamepacks\Westwood\RenX\ folder and overwrite the one that is already there (it is empty anyway).

The scenes folder contains all the buildings you need to make a map, and some extra stuff, check it out!

Using RenX

I'm gonna assume you will follow other tutorials available on http://www.renhelp.net for creating your first terrain in RenX.

I've quickly wipped up the following terrain with texture and GDI Barracks:

Goto File->Export and browse for your RenegadeMapping\RenegadeTools\LevelEdit\zunnie\Levels\C&C_Awesome in here you save your map as a W3D Renegade Terrain, name it for example awesome.W3D

Now the W3D is saved in your Levels\C&C_Awesome folder. Remember what i said about textures? I used the texture 01lv1-roc4.tga on this map so i copy this file from the RenegadeMapping\gMax\gamepacks\Westwood\RenX\Textures folder,

to my RenegadeMapping\RenegadeTools\LevelEdit\zunnie\Levels\C&C_Awesome\includes\ AND to my RenegadeMapping\RenegadeTools\LevelEdit\zunnie\EditorCache

Remember to always do this, or you get confused as to what files will go in your mix or not :/

First map setup in LevelEdit

Now that we exported our first awesome.W3D we need to TEMP it under Terrain inside LevelEdit.

So startup LevelEdit now and click the plus on Terrain and then left click on the Terrain folder, then click the button at bottom right called TEMP

Name it awesome and under the Settings tab for m_ModelName browse for your Levels\C&C_Awesome and select awesome.w3d and then click OK.

A new entry with a grey "T" appears under the terrain, select it and click on MAKE at the bottom right:

Use the Camera icon to move around the world with your left and right mouse button.

Use the blue Teapot to SELECT objects on your map, we are gonna place 1 GDI and 1 Nod startup spawner.

Position your camera hoovering above the ground a bit looking down on it, in the center of your screen is where the editor will place objects you 'MAKE'.

Expand Object->Spawner->Startup Spawners and then leftclick on GDI Spawner

MAKE it with the button at bottom right. If the character has a red outline it is placed wrong, usually you can fix that by moving it up along the Z axis a bit.

Click on the green Z and then move the character till it has white outlines.

Now also select the Nod Spawner and create one on your map place it next to the GDI Spawner.

Saving the map

ALWAYS a-a-a-always save your map "AS" ie: File->Save current level AS whenever you are gonna save it.

So we do that now: Save the current level as C&C_Awesome.lvl inside your Levels\C&C_Awesome\

XCC Mixer and Making a MIX

Goto your #Files folder and COPY the folder 006-XCC_Mixer and paste it in RenegadeMapping\ there Rename it to just "XCC_Mixer".

Go into the XCC_Mixer folder and copy the C&C_MyNewMap.mix to your Levels\C&C_Awesome\ folder

Now rename the C&C_MyNewMap.mix to C&C_Awesome.mix

Next we open the XCC Mixer itself by running the XCC Mixer.exe (NOTE: if you have many CNC games installed the FIRST time you start it up may take a while!!! give it a few minutes)

So, we got XCC opened up now. Double click on the folders and/or drives to goto your Levels\C&C_Awesome\ folder.

Also, run XCC in a little window, resize it like in my screenshot, like so:

You see the map C&C_Awesome.mix in the list correct? Double click on it to OPEN it with XCC.

Now delete the readme.txt that is in there by rightclicking on it and then choosing delete.

Next, keep XCC opened up in a small window, now also open windows explorer filebrowser with your Levels\C&C_Awesome\ opened up too.

Now drag and drop the W3D, LSD, LDD and DDB into the XCC window. Do the same for any contents you have inside your Includes folder (NOT the folder itself, the files INSIDE it):

Now close XCC mixer! Your new map C&C_Awesome.mix is ready!

Copy it from your Levels\C&C_Awesome\ to your Renegade Data folder and try it out!

Greetz zunnie