STUBBJAX
PROFESSIONAL VIDEO GAME DEVELOPER
COMMAND & CONQUER
I have gone to great lengths to improve the look and feel of one of my all-time favourite video games, Command & Conquer: Generals – Zero Hour, after being inspired by the ShockWave mod in 2008 and discovering the game’s modding potential. Changes I’ve made to the game include improving UI elements, enabling unused / broken voice lines, refining particle effects, fixing mesh texture coordinates, fixing models, fixing animations, refining unit textures, and more. Exploring the incredibly flexible and modular way in which the game’s data is configured has provided me with valuable knowledge regarding efficient game design patterns.
I have also built several software applications to assist with modding the game, including a texture coordinates reader, cursor animator, data viewer, file cleaner and window editor. Some of these tools are described further below.
I am currently part of a team of enthusiasts working on an unofficial community patch for the game, which can be found here.
Window Editor
2021 – 2022
I created a window-editing tool titled Winded that allows easy manipulation of Command & Conquer: Generals’ UI. Elements can be easily moved and resized, and the properties of various elements can be modified as well. Updates to the UI are immediately visible in-game by reopening the respective UI window. There is also a feature that allows the image texture data for the respective UI elements to be loaded and applied.
Data Viewer
2022 – 2023
I created a simple data viewer tool that renders the object data of Command & Conquer: Generals in a more readable format. Nested elements can be collapsed and expanded to more easily compare values across different objects. Lines can also be reordered or deleted. Object definitions are easily navigable via a list, and can be saved to any of the number hotkeys for easy switching and comparison.
File Cleaner
2024 – Present
Command & Conquer’s data files are riddled with formatting issues that often makes them hard to read or modify. Some of these formatting issues include: inconsistent file endings, trailing whitespace characters, missing equals signs, inconsistent end statement capitalisation, inconsistent spacing and indentation, invalid comment formatting, inconsistent data layouts, unnecessary new lines, improper line formats, and more. To rectify this, I am in the process of writing a C# console application that reads through the game’s data files and fixes all of these inconsistencies. Below is a comparison of a file before running the tool and after.
Portraits
2009 – Present
Below is a small sample of some of the game’s unit, building and upgrade portrait textures that I have modified or recreated over the years. Each portrait is upscaled to 240×192 from its original size of 120×96 or 60×48. I have currently modified a little over 100 portraits out of roughly 300.
