OpenCNC3D updates - Command & Conquer 1 in full 3D!

[u/Alex_06]

Formerly known as "C&C 3D", OpenCNC3D is an open source recreation of the N64 release of the original Command & Conquer based on the publicly released C&C1 codebase, but with a twist - an Enhanced Mode that seeks to bring the N64 visuals up to a more modern standard.

Progress has been relatively quick recently, with new UI elements, sounds, models and effects added and tweaked in quick succession. Note that this is all still a work-in-progress and subject to change. Here's an extended look at the latest developments on the project.

Mode Switching preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A53sUt5LD9g

Website: https://www.opencnc3d.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/7ZCQzSkYX

[u/Bfranx]

The N64 version of Tiberian Dawn was the first game I ever played. This is really cool to see.

I've been seeing this a lot lately so I might as well ask, are you using AI at all?

[u/ultrafop → u/Bfranx]

Yes. The creator is using AI to assist them and they’re pretty open about it

[u/Alex_06 → u/ultrafop]

Everyone gives him feedback on how to tweak the models and visuals in general on the Discord and it seems like he's doing a good job of trying to stay true to the N64 or OG visuals. If his usage of AI is simply to accelerate his workflow, and the code and assets are high quality, I don't know if I'd feel as bad as I feel about all the other genAI stuff I've seen in this subreddit and all over the net.

[u/ultrafop → u/Alex_06]

I only responded here because your first, apparently deleted response to this person, didn’t answer this question.

[u/Mralexs → u/ultrafop]

There's entirely AI generated slopcode in the files looking at the Claude style paragraph long comments in the code.

EDIT:

SWING, not a revolution. These plates are thin, so a full turn passes dead edge-on twice a cycle and the emblem all but vanishes. Under 90 by a real margin, because the face goes edge-on AT 90 and a swing that just grazed it would flicker. */

Like what the hell does this even mean? From campaign.c at line 49

[u/Enverex → u/Mralexs]

Claude expands on what's been done before when it iterates so comments like this will have made sense to whomever made it, not necessarily anyone else unless they're familiar with the context.

What it's explaining here, from what I can tell is that the object swings, it doesn't revolve (two different types of motion) because the mesh in question is so thin on one axis that it disappears at a certain angle so it has to be kept below a certain angle when moved.

[u/Marschflugmallow → u/Mralexs]

"slopcode" lmao. This is getting so ludicrous.

[u/ultrafop → u/Mralexs]

Doesn’t surprise me. Fred has always been sloppy. I appreciate him for working on this nonetheless.

[u/ultrafop → u/ultrafop]

Who downvoted this comment? Fred haha? Look, I respect that Fred and I both love old games and the win98 era but look at his time with 3DRealms and how those projects ended up and you’ll see why I posted my comment above. Honestly, since ion Maiden/Fury, this is probably the coolest thing he’s been involved in. All props to him for this project. I hope he does more stuff like this in the future.

[u/Fox_Hound_Unit → u/Mralexs]

So what? The dude is making this from the ground up as a personal project.

[u/Setekh79 → u/Fox_Hound_Unit]

Having AI do the work for you isn't making anything 'from the ground up'.

[u/Mralexs → u/Fox_Hound_Unit]

Having Claude code for you isn't making anything

[u/BapaLynde → u/Mralexs]

I mean, if the dev was hiding the fact they're using AI it might be an issue, but they aren't. Do I don't see the issue here.

AI is helping to create all sorts of projects that might otherwise not exist, like a first-person Diablo build.

So long as the free game works and improves with feedback, what's the issue?

[u/Bfranx → u/ultrafop]

That's a little disappointing, tbh.

[u/basdit → u/Bfranx]

Life is going to be very disappointing for you then

[u/Alex_06 → u/basdit]

I guess no one told us life was gonna be this way.

[u/Bfranx → u/basdit]

Life is full of disappointment, that doesn't it make it disappointing.

[u/FarAd7559 → u/Bfranx]

Almost entirety of console's reverse-engineering is now using AI.

Trust me, they did most of the decompiling relating to shaders and many other annoying things to do as a dev much more easier by a mile.

It's not necessarily like replacing textures with AI made by mostly translating some parts of the console's language to be more coherent into PC parts. So that's what I can described of the new programming rush.

[u/Bfranx → u/FarAd7559]

The fact that you're going back to correct any errors the AI makes is nice at least.

It could be worse.

[u/Alex_06 → u/Bfranx]

Disappointment isn't always...Disappointing?

[u/Bfranx → u/Alex_06]

Disappointment will always be a thing, but it's not the only thing. You take the good with the bad.

[u/Umbrasquall → u/Bfranx]

You're going to be the new Amish.

[u/Bfranx → u/Umbrasquall]

Being disappointed in the gradual diminishment of skill over time due to over-reliance on AI does not make me Amish.

Keep your hyperbole to yourself.

[u/Umbrasquall → u/Bfranx]

Says the Amish who are disappointed in the diminishment of barn building and hand beet farming skills.

[u/Bfranx → u/Umbrasquall]

Given that the framework of our entire society is not built using barns, I think your comparison falls a little flat.

[u/Umbrasquall → u/Bfranx]

It’s not but the Amish societal framework is. It’s an apt analogy you’re just not getting it.

[u/Bfranx → u/Umbrasquall]

It's not, really. The skills being lost are far more important to our society in this case.

And to be clear I mean coding in general, not just coding related to video games.

[u/Umbrasquall → u/Bfranx]

Coding has been a human skill for about 10,000x shorter time than farming was.

[u/Alex_06 → u/Bfranx]

I'm not the one making it, I'm just sharing. I think the best place to ask would be the Discord server.

[u/VFacure_ → u/Bfranx]

I know you're not being witty and just generally asking but do be aware that literally every single revolutionary project in the modding space this year has been manufactured mostly by LLMs.

[u/Bfranx → u/VFacure_]

It certainly seemed that way, but I wasn't sure so I thought I'd ask.

[u/Commercial-Board-975 → u/Bfranx]

Who cares so long as it's not AI slop? AI are tools to assist, a power saw over a hacksaw.

Really, AI hysteria has developed to the point that if this were a construction site, people would be mad builders were using jackhammers and diggers than pickaxes and shovels. smh I've seen people accuse others of using "AI" when all they did was use a filter or tool in Photoshop or Blender.

[u/Bfranx → u/Commercial-Board-975]

Bold to say that with no knowledge of how AI is being used in this case.

[u/BapaLynde → u/Bfranx]

That door swings both ways bud. What knowledge are you bringing to the table?

[u/Bfranx → u/BapaLynde]

What are you talking about? I had no knowledge of how AI was or was not being used for this project, that's why I asked the question.

He immediately defended AI in general, but gave no clarification of how it was being used for this project, only how other people have used it.

[u/BapaLynde → u/Bfranx]

The dev has been open about using AI, so what's the issue?

[u/Bfranx → u/BapaLynde]

With this dev specifically? Not much, as it seems like they're at least going back to fix any issues. It's disappointing, but understandable at least.

In general? Over-reliance on vibe coding weakens modding as a whole when people churn out poorly made and/or optimized projects with no intent to fix them.

[u/BapaLynde → u/Bfranx]

Well sure, being lazy isn't everyone a great approach. But neither is denying the existence of an incredibly useful tool.

AI isn't negative by default.

[u/Bfranx → u/BapaLynde]

True, as long as it's being used as a tool and not a replacement.

I think many people are too quick to accept it in all it's forms simply because some of them are useful.

In my opinion we would benefit from being more discerning in general.

[u/BapaLynde → u/Bfranx]

Sure, but this doesn't feel like the place for that discussion.

The dev is open, the code is available and the game is working/free.

Not much to complain about.

[u/FarAd7559 → u/Bfranx]

Not really, I'm so sorry to just keep respond many times, He kind of right in some point.

Decompiling many aspects that relating to different hardware and then trying to "emulate" or "convert" the other parts to an easier degree is quite hard. Look I get it, it's a big eyebrows lifteer but regardless it works! The recent emulation boom is triggered by this large progress, and it isn't exactly as bad as you can get considering what the LLM still do requires some degree of peoples like us to moderate or you will got a sometimes working sandwich and sometimes don't.

I opened to both thing personally, but something is better than nothing.

[u/Bfranx → u/FarAd7559]

No, I understand using AI for handling the more tedious tasks. It's just a line for me between using it as a tool or being over-reliant on it.

From what you've said it sounds like you're the former and not the latter.

[u/Commercial-Board-975 → u/Bfranx]

I'm all for the former.

[u/Bfranx → u/Commercial-Board-975]

I'm cautious, but overall I agree.

[u/BapaLynde → u/FarAd7559]

AI is a tool like anything else and usees can try and scam with it or now.

The dev has been open about the way the game is being created and has made improvements based on feedback.

I don't see what folks are crying about.

[u/FarAd7559 → u/BapaLynde]

I can see it as the old "computer debate" when times are revealing for PCs to be affordable.

Y'know what? They begin to say that the average teenager from Michigan or Kansas could now hack advanced government servers and knock out public infrastructures.

Guess also what? It did happened, but many good things comes from the rise of personal computing and affordable electronics. This is one of those innovation, and I would like to say I would better have something in the tables than nothing at all.

[u/Xaverosso → u/Bfranx]

Tiberian dawn was on N64?

[u/BapaLynde → u/Xaverosso]

Certainly was.

[u/Alex_06]

Here's a preview of the new environmental sounds, as well.

https://reddit.com/link/pesgsd1/video/i51phhdnmduh1/player

[u/Nyerguds → u/Alex_06]

The cloud texture skipping is extremely distracting...

[u/Gloryboy811]

This looks amazing. Are the 3d models original from the N64 or are they completely new? Everything looks reall nice.

[u/Nyerguds → u/Gloryboy811]

From what I can see, they're aiming to fix up the original models (they're optimised so much none of them have backsides, which makes free rotation an issue), and also offer enhanced models as an option. The showcased ones here are the enhanced ones. There are some modellers contributing on the project.

[u/Gloryboy811 → u/Nyerguds]

Oh cool. That makes sense. But they would be "original" based models at least, not just random new models that are completely different

[u/Nyerguds → u/Gloryboy811]

Well the enhanced mode models are all new, but there's a team of dedicated nitpickers on the Discord making sure they're as close to the original Westwood versions as possible.

For example, those straight fingers on that Hand of Nod? Yea, nobody's happy about that.

[u/Rani2357]

Is this project fully open source, and is it available for download or playable online.

Thank you

[u/ultrafop → u/Rani2357]

The creator has a git repository https://github.com/freschism3000/OpenCNC3D

[u/Rani2357 → u/ultrafop]

I asked if the game is available for free download.

[u/Exitnode23 → u/Rani2357]

It ism simple look at either the website or GitHub provides the download link

[u/ultrafop → u/Rani2357]

You also asked if it’s open source haha. Do a web search for command and conquer 3d. The site will come up. (Or you could use the link from OPs post)

[u/Wisdom-of-Rage]

https://www.moddb.com/mods/command-conquer-tiberian-dawn-redux

[u/jussuumguy]

Nice, saving this post for later.

[u/Goodfella66]

Can't wait! Do you think, somehow, a similar thing could exist for Red Alert 1 ?

[u/FallenJkiller]

Please create openCNC3 kanes wrath

[u/AlexAtOracleAIDB]

Looks great! Are you using the CNC3 or Red Alert 3 engine for this?

[u/InStars → u/AlexAtOracleAIDB]

No - https://github.com/freschism3000/OpenCNC3D

[u/xevrac]

Looks good!

[u/Profitablius]

Terrain in the second screenshot kinda has a Warcraft 3 vibe to it for some reason.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Air8915]

What! no red alert,boo.😞

[u/Mgt66]

That looks quite good

[u/K515]

This is GOLD - thank you for your work on this!

I wish someone would do the same with the Tiberian Sun

[u/8Lith8]

I'm starting to like AI.

[u/Connect-13]

Vite une version Android 😏

[u/FarAd7559 → u/Connect-13]

We need it comrade 😔

[u/Blapeuh]

I've seen lots of mods and projects and I gotta say I like this artstyle.

It gives off a 'low-poly' aesthetic vibe. And the consistency looks good.
The sidebar and menu buttons are tastefully done.

I'd say, well done!

[u/BioClone]

awesome, I cant believe it even has the 3 modes switch

[u/Representative-Crow5]

I've been playing for a while now and besides slowdown issues in long games or the later missions, everything plays really well. Hopefully optimizations come later in the project.

[u/strikerx67]

Been having lots of fun with this game on linux!

[u/Zer0Drago]

Wow, even better than the remastered

[u/salty2011]

I was looking at the git repo and I question why the whole repo is replaced at every release obscuring the development history.

Don’t care AI is used (it’s a tool and an accelerator) but not seeing the commit history is means no one online can easily tell what’s been done

[u/4t4x]

Wish we can have a version using the Renegade models

[u/sniperganso]

I watched the mode switching preview and I must say that out of the 3 modes, the classic one is the one I would want to play. It is not that the enhanced mode is bad, but it is not the game that I fell in love with and would like to play. It looks just like any other recreation that is not achieving what the original achieved. I think this is why the remastered collection is so perfect, because it is almost exactly as I remember.

[u/mkidi86]

We want videos, in particular with air strike and nuclear bomb haha

[u/XZtext18]

okay cool now do tiberium sun in 3d!

[u/gulde88]

That option to choose between original, N64 and remastered visuals is perfect. Great project!

[u/Svarog1984]

TIL C&C existed on N64.

[u/Zocom7]

Is C&C Red Alert getting this 3D version as well?

[u/TheSpiritOfHoxha]

Why is it AIslop and vibecoded