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Reverse-Engineering a Frame of "Supreme Commander"

Posted by timothy on from the piece-by-piece-bit-by-bit dept.

An anonymous reader writes: When Supreme Commander was released 8 years ago, it redefined the RTS genre, with its real-time strategic zoom and its epic battles involving several thousands of units at once, while bringing a whole generation of PCs to their knees. Today an article revisits the process of rendering a frame of the game by reverse-engineering the API calls made to the GPU. All the techniques and algorithms are explained in detail, many of them still used in current video games.

40 comments

  1. What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    The easiest way to kill the enemy commander is have a large force storming the front line, drawing away the forces surrounding the enemy commander, and then send in a specialized force from behind to take out the enemy commander. After doing that a few times, I lost interest in the game.

    1. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Na, me, I just spammed the hell out of nukes and shields.
      The game was too easy.
      We got so bored of it we had to add negotiations and treaties in to our games to add fun to it.
      Stuff like "you are not allowed to build X", or "no Xs near me" and the usual stuff like that. Even basic "trading".
      If only SC had the ability to save MP games.

      I still prefer Warzone2100. The community has done amazing things with that over the years.
      And Spring whenever the devs release an update that isn't horribly buggy.

      Most "modern" RTS games have been ruined by ARTS games.
      ARTS has done what cover-shooters did to the FPS genre.
      I just find no fun in them at all. LoL, DOTA, the lot of them are just boring as sin and have a toxic esports-tier community as well.

    2. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by ryanmetcalf · · Score: 1

      Luckily the community has carried on the Supreme Commander franchise with new updates and a software set that does allow for saving multiplayer replays and even spectating others. http://www.faforever.com/

    3. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by Eloking · · Score: 2

      I'm surprised that you summarize this awesome game like this. Except for a few small and open map, you can't really use this strategy (and it's easily countered by any equally skilled player).

      My personal favorite was always a map called Drake's Ravine (http://supcom.wikia.com/wiki/Drake%27s_Ravine). Basically two elevated base separated by a huge ravine that favour defense and where you need to control that ravine and it's resource to gain an edge. Again a skilled player the game almost always reach end-game where the one with the most nuke and huge experimental killer machine wins.

      --
      Elok
    4. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I only play against the A.I., not human players. Otherwise, I'm the guy who gets wiped in the first 15 minutes of the game.

    5. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The people that play at a high level in SupCom wouldn't fall for that.

    6. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      As Clint Eastwood once said, "A man got to know his limitations." Hence, I don't play against human players because it will be game over in 15 minutes. A lesson that I learned in Age of Empires.

    7. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      That's something you failed to mention in your initial post, giving the impression that the game had very flawed balance or mechanics and that there was no depth to the gameplay and strategy beyond this one, simplistic method. That it works against AI should surprise precisely nobody, but you've only demonstrated that you're smarter than your computer (and even then, only a tiny bit, for you repeated the same strategy over and over instead of attempting other fun strategies).

    8. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Good point. I thought I mentioned the AI. Then again, I only play against the AI in single-player mode and I never played multiplayer mode. As a professional video game tester for six years, the game is broken if I can use same strategy over and over again to defeat the AI. (i.e., not enough variety to keep the player off balance). Since I'm no longer being paid to play video games, I'm not obligated to slug through levels after levels of the same AI behavior.

    9. Re:What I remembered of Supreme Commander... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Supreme Commander looks like absolute shit. I have seen better graphics in Quake III based games.

  2. Supreme King Frosty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1000 year war nothing compared to how long my royal dynasty will last!

    1. Re:Supreme King Frosty by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Is that you, Caesar?

  3. It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How young are you? It was Total Annihilation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (a close to 20 year old game) with nicer graphics.
    Total Annihilation made the RTS world what it is. It was one of the very few Real Time STRATEGY games, in a world of misnamed Real Time TACTICAL games. You look at Star Craft and it is entirely about tactics.

    1. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by rockmuelle · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up. TA (done by the same people as Supcom) was the Ur-game in this genre. Still one of the best games of all time, IMHO.

    2. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      First thing I thought of. "It redefined the RTS genre, with its real-time strategic zoom and its epic battles involving several thousands of units at once"? Total Annihilation did that, years earlier.

    3. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unfortunately, strategic zoom wasn't in TA. But otherwise, yeah, SupCom is really just Total Annihilation 2.

    4. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First thing I thought of. "It redefined the RTS genre, with its real-time strategic zoom and its epic battles involving several thousands of units at once"? Total Annihilation did that, years earlier.

      Thousands? The base unit limit per player in TA was 250. Though it was possible to jack up the limit though twiddling the config, it made the game unstable.

    5. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by CaseCrash · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess it would be stupid to say "Did you even read the article?" on slashdot.

      "Total Annihilation" are literally the first two words in the article.

      --
      No, that link you posted to a web comic we've all seen a hundred times is not "obligatory."
    6. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I'll put in a word for Total Mayhem helping hold that "best games" status. Many additional units, much tougher AI for the longtime player.

    7. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by rallytales · · Score: 1

      Total Annihilation took RTS to a whole new level back in 1997 and Supreme Commander is more than just it's spiritual successor: the same designer was behind both games as well as the Dungeon Siege series - Chris Taylor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... )

    8. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Without fiddling with config files, you could boost it from the default of 250 to 1000 per side, as I recall. There was a secret hotkey to do it, just the same as there was a secret hotkey to enable skirmishes/multiplayer with up to 10 players.

    9. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Well, Total Annihilation 3. Total Annihilation 2 was Kingdoms.

    10. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Neither SC nor SC2 is "entirely about tactics". Here's a simple example of how vital strategy is in SC2

      Ketroc's mass raven style cannot face off large Zerg armies. BUT it doesn't have to. When the Zerg army attacks one of Ketroc's bases, his Ravens immediately attack the enemy bases. Because the Ravens are so agile, and his attacks rely heavily on the deployable turret, rather than on attack from actual units, Ketroc can attack two, three even four bases in the time it takes the enemy to destroy one of his with a slower army that must remain in one place to attack. The enemy is obliged to retreat to defend their bases at least for a while, if they do not, they will lose everything to the Ravens, and Ketroc has only to keep a handful of buildings in play until the game declares him the winner.

    11. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      If you think Starcraft has no strategy, you should watch this strategy guide. That link really helps to see the depth of strategy involved, between units that are quick but weak (like cavalry), and an army that is powerful but slow. Different army compositions, etc.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ravens are agile? What madness is this? Ketroc normally has a couple of separate groups near his opponent's bases, gaining energy - it's positioning, not agility.

      Love the man and his beard though :-)

    13. Re:It redefined the RTS genre?? by mjwx · · Score: 1

      How young are you? It was Total Annihilation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (a close to 20 year old game) with nicer graphics.
      Total Annihilation made the RTS world what it is. It was one of the very few Real Time STRATEGY games, in a world of misnamed Real Time TACTICAL games. You look at Star Craft and it is entirely about tactics.

      Those of us who are old enough to remember know that SupCom was essentially a modern day remake of Total Annihilation.

      TA suffered from some huge, glaring UI problems (specifically around hotkeys, which are essential when playing an RTS). However for proper stratergy you need to look beyond RTS to turn based strategy. Games like Civ make SupCom and TA look minuscule in scope.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  4. This. by waspleg · · Score: 1

    Mod parent up. Supreme Commander is a shadow of TA's greatness (and the recent remake is very VERY distant 4th, I'm counting TA:Kingdoms as 2nd).

  5. Spring (TA clone+) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you liked Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander, check out SpringRTS (springrts.com). It's an open-source engine that has a number of games, several of which are very similar to the original TA (e.g., Balanced Annihilation and Tech Annihilation), and a few others that are a little different (e.g. Zero-K).

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. RTS... by EmeraldBot · · Score: 2

    C&C was my bread and butter series, Red Alert 2 and Generals are among my favorite games of all time. Red Alert 2 in particular was pretty well balanced multiplayer, and I'm sure there's still a community out there playing it competitively.

    Warzone 2100 is a game you must check out too sometime, it's got an extremely interesting history behind it. Once a Playstation (not Playstation 2 or Playstation 3, just Playstation) game, it became an open-source PC game after the devs gave out the source code; I can't recall another game that's ever gone that route. Although it's in a bit of a slump in terms of development right now, it's got a small but dedicated community that's doing some fascinating work. In particular, since the game makes it so easy to change out the AI for an opposing side, it's got some extraordinary AI addons that actually play really well, and I haven't seen another RTS with the same focus on AI. I highly recommend you check it out if you ever feel bored on a weekend or so; it's definitely worth it.

    --
    "Set a man a fire, he'll be warm for the rest of the night. Set a man afire, he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    1. Re:RTS... by desdinova+216 · · Score: 1

      it was originally released on the PC as well.

    2. Re:RTS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I prefer Battlezone II. That was an awesome RTS.

  8. For those interested... Forged Alliance Forever by maugle · · Score: 1

    Forged Alliance Forever is a multiplayer mod and update to the Supreme Commander standalone expansion Forged Alliance. It gives the old game new life with community support, balance patches, and an online multiplayer lobby (the only one I'm aware of after the death of GPG),

    Also, you can watch casts of some of the more interesting matches on YouTube. My favorite caster, who introduced me to FAF with his videos, is Gyle.

    1. Re:For those interested... Forged Alliance Forever by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 1

      Having been on the GPG forums I don't know if I trust them any more than the original developers to put out balance patches. They're as obsessed as TFC and Tribes 2 players were with their arbitrary "gentleman's rules" about how the game ought to be played.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
  9. Tried SC, tried FA. by ThePhilips · · Score: 1

    Tried SC, tried FA.

    Was somewhat disappointed, and in a sentimental rush came back to the original - TA (and TA Kingdoms) - which are still are fantastic games even by modern standards.

    P.S. Also, proportional unit sizes suck.

    --
    All hope abandon ye who enter here.
  10. This is all pretty standard rendering stuff. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    These sorts of techniques are present in practically every game since 2005. Why is this such a big deal, and why haven't http://fabiensanglard.net/ articles been posted on slashdot yet?

  11. Total Annihlation and this has always been shit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only ones who believe it was great were it's creators and fools that believed the creator lol.

    The only RTS which truely refined RTS is Company of Heroes Tales of Valor.

    The best RTS as of yet no questions asked.

    Fuck total annilhalition and supreme commander BS.

  12. Re:Total Annihlation and this has always been shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What was shit about it ? You may wonder like Red Alert 2...

    Well... bombers... 1 hour of building a base... and then 2 minutes you dead lol.

    Or how about super weapons nuking your entire base lol... fuck that.

    Yeah coh has some offmap weapons but nothing as worse at the crap mentioned above lol.

    Not to mention ta and shit like it... is mostly a click fest... whoever clicks fastest wins lol.... building same unit was enough to win... 15 year old click kiddies.

  13. Re:Total Annihlation and this has always been shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sins of a Solar Empire is way better than all of that crap.