Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

Prerelease Info

Resources#

Unused SoundsOur work here is done, we’re out of here.

Main Menu Commands#

The following codes can be typed on the main menu to unlock certain options and features. A beep will sound when correctly entered.

While these codes remain in Game.exe up to the latest version (2.03), some new files added in a certain patch disable them. To restore these codes, remove the expand01.mix and gmenu.mix files from the install directory (by default: C:\Westwood\SUN).

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Please see what patch introduced expand01.mix and gmenu.mix.

• HIRES — Allows selecting resolutions in the Options menu past the maximum of 800x600, up to 4096x4096. Will add a 'RS' to the version readout on the bottom-right of the screen. CNCNet's patch enables this code by default.
• THETEAM — Loads a custom tmcj4f.ini file after loading rules.ini, allowing custom rules to be used in skirmish mode. Stands for "Totally Cool Mission Just 4 Fun".
• TOGGLE — Allows changing resolutions without restarting the game. CNCNet's patch enables this code by default.
• PENGO — Replaces Visceroids with Sno-Bees from Pengo (1982). Will add a 'PG' to the version readout on the bottom-right of the screen.

Small Sno-Bee
Large Sno-Bee

Pressing Ctrl+V on the main menu of either game will display info about the version of the game.

Pressing Ctrl+Alt+C on the menu before choosing a game will display the credits.

Cut Debug Commands#

TIBSUN.mix -> local.mix -> keyboard.ini contains old debug commands that developers used, the commands are no longer in the exe.

BuildCheat=67
ToggleShroud=115
SuperExplosion=192
ForceWin=1111
BailOut=1112

These numbers can be converted into keys:

BuildCheat=C
ToggleShroud=F4
SuperExplosion=`
ForceWin=Alt+W
BailOut=Alt+X

Cut Mechanics#

• The civilian armory has the armory=yes tag that allows infantry to go inside to be promoted. The amount of times infantry can be promoted is defined by the ammo property, defaulting to 5. While the armory appears in some skirmish maps the mechanic is not viewable as the building isn't buildable or capturable.

• Like the armory, the hospital has the ability to heal infantry using its ammo if built or captured, but is unable to be by default.
  • There is actually one hospital available under player control in Nod campaign mission "Escort Bio-toxin Trucks" (inside the base with trucks) that has the aforementioned game mechanic fully working without modifications.

• By giving a carryall a weapon they will be able to paradrop vehicles when they fire it, however, when this happens the vehicles will usually become offset from the cell grid visually.

• GAGREEN is in some regard a cut structure. Like pavement, building and placing it covers the area in grass. Likely a debug tool. Despite being owned by both GDI and Nod it requires the GDI barracks to be built and costs 100 vs pavement's 75.

The chameleon spy, while used in the campaign, was once trainable normally. If edited to be trainable he functions as a Red Alert 1 spy does. However, if entering a building the icons for showing what the structure is producing uses the wrong palette, likely the RA1 version instead of the correct TS one.

• The threat rating node was an addon for the GDI upgrade center. Adding it to the building would improve auto-targeting by causing units to target units with higher threat ratings. Its graphics were later recycled for the drop-pod node in Firestorm.

Cut Dropship Mechanic#

• The dropship system was a way for players to transfer units across campaign missions. Players would select their forces before the mission and once having built an orca dropship bay the units would be delivered.

Tiberian Sun‘s development had many challenging moments when features had to be cut for one reason or another. A perfect example of this was the ability to order a limited number of units through a drop-ship loading screen before a mission. This sounded like a great idea on paper and we had already coded it and incorporated it into the game. It wasn’t until we actually played with it that we realized it just didn’t fit and had to be removed.

Combining the above graphics provides the following mockups:

Cut Tiberium#

To do: Figure out how to mask these images properly, Riparius should be remapped with HLV(85,255,255) and the others with HLV(164,255,255).

Tiberian Sun has four defined types of tiberium.

• Riparius
• Cruentus
• Vinifera
• Aboreus

Riparius and Vinifera are the used green and blue tiberium respectively. Cruentus has its own unique large crystal graphic internally called "BIGBLUE". Vinifera and Aboreus use the TIB2_XX and TIB3_XX graphics which end up just being the same graphics as Riparius' TIB_XX graphics, remapped with blue, making Aboreus effectively identical to Vinifera.

Name	Image	Value	Explosiveness
Riparius		25	4
Cruentus		70	10
Vinifera		40	100
Aboreus		30	10

Cut Units#

The Chemical Spray Infantry, also known as WEEDGUY, is a cut unit that would likely function the same as they do in Tiberian Dawn. The unit was later repurposed to allow the multi-missile weapons to work, retained for the same reason in Red Alert 2 to allow the nuclear missile to work. The cameo for this unit was repurposed in Firestorm as the elite cadre, but the sprite left unused.

Cameo	Sprite

Cut Cutscenes#

Watch on YouTubeA cut cutscene of orca bombers bombing cyborg reapers can be seen on The First Decade's bonus disc during "10 Years of Command & Conquer" at 12:55.

Unused Graphics#

A cameo for the hunter seeker itself, not its ability.

Ability	Unit

Cameos:

Unknown, simply goes by the name "ship". Possibly placeholder dropship graphics.

The build animation for the spotlight.

The Nod war factory's lights are meant to animate when producing a unit, but they don't. Mockup:

Normal	Damaged

The orca dropship bay for the cut mechanic has all its graphics remaining.

Cameo	Building	Healthy	Damaged	Very Damaged

The graphics for it were recycled into the upgrade center once the radar lost its plugin capabilities.

Orca Bay	Upgrade Center

The civilian array has animations for its dishes moving.

The civilian armory has animations for its flag waving.

Healthy	Damaged

The civilian hospital has animations for its helipad.

Healthy	Damaged

The cyborgs have unused death animations as they always lose their legs and then die with animation S_BANG34.

Jumpjets have an unused tumble death animation and a firing animation while on the ground, instead their FireFly animation plays when landed.

Red Alert Leftovers#

Graphics from Red Alert were included in the game for some reason. These files still request their Red Alert palettes.

The ore.

The gems.

The ore mine.

A camo pillbox.

Idle	Building

The missile silo.

Firing	Firing	Building

Unused Models#

Probe#

Internally Probe, unknown, possibly the hunter seeker in voxel format instead of its 2D SHP.

Hunter Seeker	Probe

Devil's Tongue#

An old version of the devil's tongue. Internally Utnk.

Old	Used

In-game	In-game

Tiberian Dawn & Red Alert Units#

Some models from the original Command & Conquer and Red Alert were either ported or remade in voxel format.

APC#

Internally M113.

Body	Turret

Light Tank#

Internally 1tnk.

Body	Turret	Barrel

Medium Tank#

Internally 2tnk.

Body	Turret	Barrel

Heavy Tank#

Internally 3tnk.

Body	Turret	Barrel

Mammoth Tank#

Internally 4tnk, this model was used for both GDI and Nod campaigns and as a bonus "crate" unit in skirmish games where crates are enabled.

Body	Turret	Barrel

Artillery#

Internally Arty

Body	Barrel

Flame Tank#

Internally Ftnk.

Longbow/Apache#

Internally Heli.

Hind#

Internally Hind.

Chinook#

Internally Tran.

Humvee#

Internally Jeep.

Body	Turret

MLRS#

Internally MLRS.

Body	Turret

Mine Layer#

Internally Mnly.

Mobile Radar Jammer#

Internally Mrj.

Body	Turret

Cut Triggers#

Escape from CABAL (GDI)#

Upon attacking the CABAL core, a cyborg commando would be set to ambush the player (wait until discovered), a display the text "Cyborg Commando online. Retaliation protocols initiated.", however the trigger is disabled.

Old Mission Names#

The map files themselves sometimes have different names from the names given in mission.ini:

Unused Text#

To do: tutorial.ini contains lines that differ from in game. Line 368 differs, suggesting GDI asked you to help the civilians instead of them being a Nod aligned outpost that Nod don't want to be turned into cyborgs. Also suggests an MCV as a reward instead of engineers.

mapsel01.ini#

Firestorm has briefings for map selections for each level. The text goes unused as the levels linearly continue from each other with no map selection. The text slightly differs from the used briefings.

GDI#

====Nod==== Suggests that the player was to build a base and lure the Tiberian lifeforms from the genesis pit to the civilians. Final has the player controlling toxin soldiers which "convince" civilians to lure the lifeforms from the pit to their outposts.

HVA Files#

The HVA (Hierarchical Voxel Animation) files contain file paths in the first 16 bytes of each file, with this we can see some file paths:

C:\3DSMAX\MESHE
D:\PROJECTS\TSU
D:\PROJECTS\SUN
U:\WIP\FERBY\C&
U:\WIP\RADE_S\V

Rade_S is Rade Stojsavljevic.
Ferby is Ferby Miguel.

Easter Eggs#

Some civilian structures are named after developers:

Regional Differences#

As is standard with the Command & Conquer series, the game was censored when it was released in Germany⁴:

• All humans were changed to cyborgs. The scream when units are killed or crushed was changed to metallic noises and the red blood was colored to black.
• The intro to Nod mission 4 was censored: the scene where General Hassan's throat is cut was completely removed and replaced by a generic scene of Nod infantry standing around.
• The victory video where a GDI soldier is crushed by a devil's tongue flametank was cut short so it fades out right before the tank reaches the soldier.
• Another victory video, where a Nod soldier shoots an injured GDI pilot and blood splatters onto their orca was censored similarly; the video fades out when the Nod soldier starts shooting so no blood can be seen.

References#