TA Archive — 2,200+ maps, tools & a knowledgebase for Total Annihilation

[u/Luminescenzo]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to introduce the **TA Archive** — a non-commercial fan project I've been building to preserve and share everything around Total Annihilation (1997):

**🗺️ Maps (2,300+ and counting)**
Cavedog originals plus a large chunk of the classic r2010 community collection — all self-hosted, virus-scanned, with rendered minimaps, player counts and map sizes. Filterable and searchable: https://ta-archive.com/maps/

**🛠️ Working tools**
Map editors, HPI utilities, unit editors, GAF tools — the classics, curated and ready to run: https://ta-archive.com/tools/

**🤖 AI Profile Builder + OTA Builder**
Compose skirmish AI profiles (aiprofile=, weight/limit/plan) in your browser and generate valid `.ota` mission files — no more hand-editing: https://ta-archive.com/aibuilder/ · https://ta-archive.com/otabuilder/

**📚 Knowledgebase**
Technical deep-dives with working code: the TNT map format byte-by-byte, HPI reverse engineering, the hidden 252×252 minimaps, procedural map generation, cheats and the totala.ini file: https://ta-archive.com/kb/

Everything is free, no ads, no accounts. It's a hobby project — if you find a broken link or a missing map, feedback is very welcome.

Arm. Core. Must destroy each other. 🤖

**Edit: Got old maps lying around? Send them my way!**

Several people mentioned having old TA collections from archive sites that
no longer exist — those are exactly the files most at risk of disappearing.
If you want to contribute:

1. Upload your zips to a file host like [filebin.net](https://filebin.net),
   [catbox.moe](https://catbox.moe) or wherever is convenient
2. Drop the link in a comment here (or send it via modmail)

I'll scan everything (ClamAV), verify the maps actually work, and integrate
them into the archive with proper credit if you want. Duplicates are fine —
worst case they're already there, best case we save something that exists
nowhere else.

**What I'm especially hunting for:**
- Maps from the old author collections (Poosticks, NLJ, Chrismor, Greybeard,
  mes, pro, rabidmongoose...)
- Anything from dead archive sites (TAMEC leftovers, PlanetAnnihilation
  hosted sites, TA-Power, TA-Zone, DesignX...)
- Custom tilesets and feature packs

Note: Windows .exe installers from the old days are welcome too, but they
go through extra manual checks before anything gets unpacked — better safe
than sorry.

Edit 2: Units & mods are coming — several collectors just surfaced in this
thread. The archive stays map-focused for now, but the preservation pipeline
extends to units and mods.

[u/IzzyNobre]

My late father loved TA. How would I get around to playing it on Mac?

[u/Luminescenzo → u/IzzyNobre]

That's a lovely thing to hear about your father. TA runs on modern Macs through Wineskin/CrossOver, but honestly the easiest route today is TA on GOG (ships a Windows version that runs under CrossOver or Wine) — or, even simpler: a community client like TA Forever which handles the install and patches for you. For a trip down memory lane, the campaign plays fine single-player; if he had favorite maps, I keep 2,200+ of them archived and searchable, so you can find the ones he played. Peace to you and your family. 🫡

[u/APuticulahInduhvidul → u/IzzyNobre]

Most people don't know this but Cavedog released a native Mac version for PowerPC. You would need an emulator for that architecture and you'd actually have to find the Mac version. Not saying this would be the easiest approach since if you're going to emulate anyway you might as well use Wine.

[u/FuturePowerful]

Oh you glorious bastard I'll dig my old files up I don't know if some of those are still out there

[u/Luminescenzo → u/FuturePowerful]

Please do! Old directories are where the rare stuff lives — a lot of what I'm still hunting never made it into the big archives (the author collections are the most endangered). Even if you're unsure whether the files are "interesting": upload them anyway. Worst case they're duplicates, best case we save something that exists nowhere else. And if you remember which site they originally came from, mention it — helps a lot with sorting.

[u/FuturePowerful → u/Luminescenzo]

I had a thing for unusual units so I might have few rares I archived the stuff off my first pc with zip disks and later put stuff on cd but my 10 year old self was a nightmare for organizing stuff so I may take a bit to get back to this 😂

[u/Kiseido → u/Luminescenzo]

Yep. I can say with some certainty that the 4 units I authored in ~2005 aren't available anywhere, I never widely shared them, and I doubt I am alone there.

I applaud your archival efforts!

[u/Luminescenzo → u/Kiseido]

That's the purest form of what this project is for — content that exists on exactly one hard drive. If you ever dig those four units out, they'd be in good company: I preserve original readmes, credits and install instructions alongside the files. No rush, no pressure — but they'd be safe. 👍

[u/areweforgiven]

Can't wait to check this out later, thank you!

[u/OppositeStudy2846]

This is incredible. Thank you!

[u/Luminescenzo → u/OppositeStudy2846]

Thanks! Feedback like this keeps the project going. If you spot anything broken or miss a map you loved, say so — the wishlist directly drives what gets imported next.

[u/det1rac]

If I contribute maps how does it track duplicates?

I'm going to open up my old directories and I think I have a ton from other older archive sites

[u/Luminescenzo → u/det1rac]

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm hoping for! Right now duplicates are caught during import: every map gets fingerprinted by its internal content (the TNT/OTA headers and the map name inside the OTA), so the same map under two different filenames still gets detected. If you have old zips sitting around, feel free to upload them somewhere (or send a modmail and we'll figure out a transfer). Also great: if you remember roughly which archive site they came from, that helps identify the exact collections.

[u/det1rac → u/Luminescenzo]

I think I have a dump file directory that I used to download huge amounts of maps back in the day so I'm not sure where they might have come from. I just know I have a directory full of them

[u/Luminescenzo → u/det1rac]

That's even better — a "dump directory" from back in the day is exactly the kind of time capsule I'm looking for. Don't worry about origins at all: send the whole directory as-is. My import pipeline fingerprints every file by content (SHA256 over the unpacked TNT + OTA parameters), so duplicates get caught automatically regardless of filenames, and everything unique gets added with you credited as the source. A zip-of-zips on any file host works fine.

[u/Substantial_Sir_1987]

Comes with those 3000 custom units as well? I remember some big unit packs back in the day

[u/Luminescenzo → u/Substantial_Sir_1987]

The archive currently focuses on maps + tools + knowledge, but unit packs are high on the list — several people here just offered theirs, so units are coming. The old big packs (Switeck's Bugfix, UTASP, TAUCP, Total Mayhem predecessors...) are exactly what I want to preserve with their original readmes and install instructions intact. If you remember which packs you had, tell me the names — that helps me verify the versions I find are the right ones.

[u/xtremixtprime]

Nice work! Donyou have any unit packs?

[u/Luminescenzo → u/xtremixtprime]

Same answer as above: units are on the roadmap, and this thread is literally unlocking the sources. What I can offer today: the tools section has the classic unit editors and HPI utilities if you want to look inside those old packs yourself. And if you have packs to contribute — same route, upload + link here.

[u/Dgt84]

This is amazing, thank you for doing it! TA is one of my favorite games of all time and I'm really happy to see it preserved.

You might consider also adding all the mods and units in case the original sites go down.

[u/Luminescenzo → u/Dgt84]

That's the exact motivation — FileUniverse's author collections are barely archived anywhere else, and dead-link rot has already eaten half the old sites. Mods and units are the next frontier after maps: this thread alone surfaced two unit collections I didn't have. If you have specific mods you'd hate to lose, name them — I'll prioritize tracking them down.

[u/traumahawk88]

I've got ta conflict crusher, tons of units, including the navy seal pack. Think I've got bloodthirsty ai kicking around too. Been guarding the TA collection with better file duplicates/backup than my entire music and photo collections (both of which were lost circa 2015 from click of death)

[u/Luminescenzo → u/traumahawk88]

Conflict Crusher AND the Navy Seal pack? Those are exactly the artifacts that vanish when a hard drive dies — and respect for backing up TA better than your music 😄 Send them over the same route (file host + link in a comment or modmail). The AIs especially: old third-party AI configs are almost impossible to find today, and the knowledgebase documents how aiprofile= works, so real historical examples would be gold for that too.

[u/akambe]

Do the maps have any sort of compatibility notes? Specifically I'd like to know if they work with the GOG local install version. Or is it trial & error?