This page won't be updated much until Red Alert Gold 1.3 comes out. And when this page is updated, expect it to be a big one. (Just ask yourself, NOW what is the Cat up to... :)

10/1/97- If you're a webauthor (or aspiring to be one) take a look at my webpage tips page. I admit I don't do all that I say, because I had to learn all of this by experience. People have asked for webpage help, so some info I know is included there.

The new RACF site is here. The URL below doesn't work anymore.

9/25/97- Westwood has given me the Command and Conquer 2 Pre-Alpha! If you want it, go to the C&C2 website I made for it. ;)

9/21/97- All throughout the months I've updated this page, I always come up with some type of silly excuse for not updating the page. This time, I actually have a good excuse...

Cataclysm almost dies in car accident- I'd explain the details, but it wouldn't make sense to you since you don't know where I live. But luckily the crash didn't involve anyone else. Nevertheless, the truck I was in had to be towed away. So if I seem pissed off today, you'll probably know why :)

The old Warcraft 2 Myth- I've heard War2ers say this all the time. I thought only the lamers (the stupid people) would only say it but now even Shlonglor is saying it on his website.

Basically, the myth is that there are more Warcraft 2 players then Red Alert players. What is their reasoning for such an idea? Well, there are usually around five to six servers on kali full of Warcraft 2 players while there is only one crowded server that people play Red Alert on. So because more people play Warcraft 2 on kali instead of Red Alert means Warcraft 2 is more popular, right? No. All Westwood Chat is for now is for Red Alert games, and I have no idea exactly how many people use that. Probably more people use Westwood Chat for Red Alert then people who use Kali for Warcraft 2. Also Red Alert is one of the most played games on other gaming services such as TEN and Mplayer. Besides that, Red Alert is alot more popular around the world then Warcraft 2 is. Yes I know there is a French, German, and Italian versions of Warcraft 2, but there are those same languages are available in Red Alert. I've played Warcraft 2 longer then Red Alert, and I have NEVER met any Warcraft 2 player from another country. I usually play Red Alert with people worldwide from countries such a s England, Brazil, Russia, New Zealand, and so on. I'm sick of this myth, even if both games are practically dead.

9/19/97- Hmm, not much is new going on with RA so today's update will be somewhat brief.

Dark Reign- Below sounds something I would, say, but I assure you I didn't. If you go to Activision's Dark Reign site here, you'll see this big broad sentence for the latest news:

Dark Reign is out! Go get it! :)

Haha, this sounds familiar. :) Go check out what I say on the news page of the RA Gold site whenever I release a new version to see what I mean.

Whatever happened to John Smith?- If you come to this page frequently then you'll remember John Smith, the designer of Red Alert. Haha. Back then, John Smith emailed me saying I should give him all the credit from my hjk Gold map. If you want, you can read the original page I devoted to lamer mail here. It still has all the orignal text of the emails he sent me and my original comments. During that time, I was getting email from the popular Red Alert website authors telling me this guy was fake. I was like, 'Duh, its so obvious'. John Smith's 'defense' of himself ended when I tracked down his website, which was a warez website. Well, I went back to his site today and saw it was completly redone as a C&C site.

He links here in his link page. This is what it says:

Cataclysm

(Jonathan Hollas) NOTE: This guy hates me...But here is his page anyway, I like it. http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/Alley/7381/

Now I don't hate him. I loved it when he emailed me as John Smith, since it gave my site something to update with! :)

9/18/97- I said I'd TRY to update my site daily, I didn't promise :)

RACF- Remember the MFG (Mission Force Guild)? The MFG can be found on the Red Alert Mission Force website. The MFG's purpose was to create high quality add-ons. I don't remember seeing anything MFG produced except for RAID (Red Alert Independence Day) and Shmitz did most of the work with that. The MFG hasn't been updated in months and I think its pretty dead now. Well a new 'guild' is out called RACF.

What is RACF? (Below is what was put on their website with my comments)

Project RACF is a gathering of some of the best conversion makers on the net, working together to create quality add-ons for the glorious game Red Alert by Westwood.

How many Red Alert conversions are there? Remember that a conversion is a totally redone Red Alert, not just adding some units and structures. Technically, there are no 'true' conversions out but there are several semi-conversions. Only around three or four decent ones though. Its sorta sad (and insane?) that such an organization has come out in Red Alert's darkest hour: when the new RTS games come out (Dark Reign came out today! Whopee! :)

Project RACF constructs complete conversions. These included not only new unit stats, but entire new units, new graphics, and more. All of this, when incorperated, brings new life into Red Alert, and offers many many more hours worth of gameplay, as well as limitless new multiplayer oppurtunities.

From experience I can safetly say that making a good add-on is harder then it seems. Some people get the impression that just because they can edit a rules.ini, they can create a great add-on. Well, you can get brushes and pain a picture but that doesn't mean it'll be as good as Leonardo's works.

There are three reasons why people make add-ons:

1) To make money Ex: Westwood (RACF is a non-profit organization, so they don't apply here)

2) To build up their ego, to make the person have a deity status (All the add-ons in this reason always bomb and no one ever plays them. Why? Well, because the maker thinks he's so supreme that his 'work' is flawless and won't listen to suggestions and criticisms.

3) To make Red Alert more interesting and better gamewise. (This is VERY rare to see in a RA add-on.be in this catorgory. I only made RA Gold because no RTS games came out during the summer. ultRA fits in this catagory as well. Although I did not like ultRA, the maker tried to make it gamewise better to his beliefs)

I have no problem with number one. If you want to make money, great. RA 5000 is the only add-on I know of that is being sold. Counterstrike fits in this catagory. But Counterstrike did horrible in sales, so Westwood suffered by not putting as good of a product as we wanted.

The second one is the worst. Its why there are tons of Red Alert add-ons out there. If RACF falls in this catagory, it will die quickly.

Third one is the best, but rare. If RACF actually cares about 'improving' Red Alert instead of building up a 'deity status' then I'm all for it. I'd like to play some new GOOD add-ons and not the cr@p that's over the net.

One of the main goals of Project RACF was to create quality conversions which made units more realistic.

Argh! Games aren't supposed to be realistic. If Red Alert was realistic, when you fired the nuke everything on the map would be blown up. It wouldn't add to gameplay, but it would be realistic. Unless its a 'simulator' game, the realistic factor always takes back seat to the fun factor.

Another thing, was to make infantry more effective, and thus, worth building. Along with new units, new graphics, and beutifully complex single player missions, Project RACF's conversions are top quality. There arent any insane patches with super nuclear civilians or anything inane like that, but you can rest assure that Red Alert will resemble actual combat more than ever before!

Funny, if they're going to make Red Alert realistic, then the infantry need to be WEAKER. If they're making it more effective, then it won't be realistic.

So, now the Project RACF team is working fast as ever on producing high quality conversions on the net, and the future looks rather bright! We have an ever-growing staff, of the finest conversionists for Red Alert!

Go check their site out for more information at http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/Castle/9799/RACF/

Cataclysm, why don't you join this group?

Haha. I don't join 'groups' of any kind. Personally, I hate clans, teams, and other organizations so I don't join them. If you've read my FAQ, you know why I don't play ladder games. I don't join the RACF for the same reason why I didn't join the MFG. One reason is because once RA Gold 1.3 is out, ffft! and I'm through with Red Alert. Hell with Aftermath. I don't even play normal Red Alert anymore because it sucks now. I'm more of a rules.ini editor then I am a mix expert or an artist or programmer of launchers... The last thing they need or want is a rules.ini editor. Besides, now days EVERYONE is a rules.ini 'master' ;)

Red Alert Gold 2.0?- Unless I'm REALLY bored, don't count on it. Besides, the 1.3 version will be close to perfection (there really isn't all that much I can do rules.ini wise...)

Warez- Warez is always a controversy over the net. Go to Shlong's page here to get a unique opinion.

New RTS Games- Dark Reign is out and Total Ahnihalation is right on its heels. Soon Age of Empires, Myth, and others will be emerging. Farewell Red Alert, your time is growing shorter by the day :)

9/16/97- Hah! You thought this wouldn't be updated again, didn't you? :) I'll try to update daily now...

This website has gone too far.

Mailbag- Adding a message board has reduced the number of emails I get tremendously, but I still get a few stupid ones.

This guy emailed me saying he couldn't open up the RA Gold 1.2 zip. Sounds like the corrupted zip I put up when RAG 1.2 came out, right? Well, he couldn't unsip it because he didn't have Winzip. I explained to him what Winzip was, and I told him where to get it (go to www.yahoo.com, and search for Winzip. Then CLICK on the link that appears and you'll go to the Winzip site, boy, I'm so nice :) Anyway, this is what he emailed me:

I hate to keep bothering you about this because I know you already get enough e-mails as it is. Ok, I found the winzip site, but I don't see anything about the winzip shareware. What do I click on for the shareware? Is it where it says "download 6.2 windows 95 version?" Again, sorry to bug you.

I get enough emails as it is, usually from people with a spectrum of problems. 'Do I click on where it says, "download 6.2 windows 95 version"'? C'mon, doesn't take a genius to figure this out.

I'm not putting his email address up because I don't want people to email bomb him. C'mon have sympathy for him. Its not his fault, he's from AOL :)

I don't know everything!- Why do people act like I know everything? I get emails all the time saying, 'How do I get this icon to appear when I edit the mix?' Or, 'What editor did you use to edit the rules.ini?' (They don't believe me when I tell them its notepad :) I'm not a mix expert nor an artist. So I rely on people who 'supposedly' are. I do have general knowledge about mixes, but I'm no mix expert. You won't believe what some people ask me. 'Can I use the B2 bomber in my add-on?' I give them Head's email address (since he made the image) and say, 'Go ask him'. Other times they'll say stuff like, 'My new add-on is coming out. Its so much better then RA Gold' I reply to them, 'I'm sorry, you must of mistaken me for someone who actually cares.' Haha! :)

Other RA add-ons- I don't understand why everyone is making RA add-ons now. Its suicide to, really. C'mon, Westwood will be releasing THEIR add-on Aftermath, and it will be better then all the custom add-ons since the people who make it are proffesional and get paid (unlike us amuaters :). Also, every gamecompany and their brother are making new RTS games. If Red Alert isn't dead yet, then its on life support as the cancer of 'Boringnatis' seeps in. Could the cure to this be Aftermath? Somehow I doubt it, every other game has been lost to the insidious 'Boriningnatis' cancer that seems to inflict only games (well there was THAT teacher... :). Does Red Alert stand a chance? Sure. Is it much of a chance? Nope. Once the RTS games get going, Red Alert will be joining Dune 2, Warcraft, and Command and Conquer in RTS Heaven. :)

I was thinking of 'revewing' each RA add-on. I had already done one for ultRA. Trust me: if I haven't played all of the RA add-ons, I've played MOST of them. Most aren't worth writing about. A few of them were such as RAID. I decided not to 'reveiw' anymore because it didn't really seem fair since I was making an add-on too. Its like Apple 'reviewing' Microsoft. :)

Some add-ons are pretty good. Some just aren't. Around 90% of the add-ons are just pure cr@p. They seem that they don't know what they're doing and their rules.ini (the most important part) just plain sucks. For example, they'll put in 'super' units such as grenadiers hurling crusier shells, or tanks that fire nukes, or riflemen able to C4 buildings, etc. etc. I don't see how in the world those would add to gameplay. But then again, everyone is different from poor old Cat. :)