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Originally Posted by Godwin
perhaps we need an ini editor to link all the files together so that u dont have to open them all
and what are these 'shaders'? not familiar with 3d engines....
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I cant find it now, but Im sure Olaf and Koen were discussing the possibility of such an editor on the XCC forum - for once, it may be a good idea because so much of Generals' functionality (and thus editing it) depends very very heavily on the interdependancy of several INI files.
In simple terms, in RA2 you could do everything for a unit in one file (RULES) then add its display parameters in another file (ART). In Generals, you'd have to make amendments to several files just to do something as 'simple' as adding a unit - FactionUnit.INI, Weapon.INI, Armor.INI, ObjectCreationList.INI and then some - trying to remember what you did and where can be a real pain at times and if you forget one small thing or forget to change one file then you've had it.
The shaders are used for stuff like water surfaces and other instances where the terrain should be kinda 'deformed' in a way - for example, a tank shell hitting a cliff may just generate a surface explosion (some sort of DamageFX like a lighting effect perhaps with some debris in the form of small rocks) but if it hit water it needs to create ripples. In this instance, a shader is used to create the visual effect on the waters texture image. A shader can also be used to create the effect of the water 'moving' (i.e. the surface of the water bobbing up and down rather than staying static). The downside of shaders is the impact on processor cycles, so they are restricted to stuff like the water, although Im sure you could add more/redfine how the existing ones are used via GameLOD.INI (Game Level Of Detail INI file has replaced the relevant detail setttings from the RULES files of previous C&C games).