Unofficial, manual content installation for OpenRA

installation.md

Manual (unrecommended) installation of the required content files for OpenRA

⚠️ This method is not recommended and should only be applied if automatic installation fails. Success of manually installing the files can not be guaranteed. ⚠️

⚠️ The automatic installation may fail for non-english content. OpenRA does not support other languages at the current stage of development and no such content should be installed. ⚠️

⚠️ Manually installing files can corrupt your game and lead to crashes. ⚠️

If you have trouble with automatic installation, please contact the developers (via IRC, our forum, the webpage comments or our issue tracker) before attempting a manual install.

Those steps were written for release-20200503 and might not work for newer (or older) versions.

The latest information can always be found inside the yaml files of the 'installer' directory of each mod.

Note for Linux users: Linux is case-sensitive, so you have to change the .MIX extension to .mix as well.

Content folder location

The subfolders for the game files can be found at the following directory

• Windows: %APPDATA%\OpenRA\Content\ or %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\OpenRA\Content\ (older installations)
• Mac OSX: ~/Library/Application Support/OpenRA/Content/
• Linux: ~/.config/openra/Content or ~/.openra/Content/ (older installations)
  • Snap: ~/snap/openra/<id>/.config/openra/Content/ (the ID is per install)
• For portable installations: Support\Content\ inside your OpenRA installation folder (create the folders if necessary)

Instructions for each mod

Tiberian Dawn

The subfolder for the Tiberian Dawn content is cnc.

"C&C Gold (GDI Disc)" and "C&C Gold (Nod Disc)" contain most of the required mix files in their root directory. You need to extract SPEECH.MIX, TEMPICNH.MIX and TRANSIT.MIX from INSTALL/SETUP.Z. Both disc do not contain the Covert Ops music files. The Covert Ops music files can be found on the "Covert Operations Expansion" disc.

The "C&C The First Decade" disc stores the required files inside the CNC folder of the data1.hdr, data1.cab, data2.cab and data3.cab files.

Copy the files to the following location in the cnc folder:

Source	Destination
CONQUER.MIX	conquer.mix
DESERT.MIX	desert.mix
GENERAL.MIX	general.mix
SCORES.MIX	scores.mix
SOUNDS.MIX	sounds.mix
TEMPERAT.MIX	temperat.mix
WINTER.MIX	winter.mix
SPEECH.MIX	speech.mix
TEMPICNH.MIX	tempicnh.mix
TRANSIT.MIX	transit.mix
covert/SCORES.MIX	scores-covertops.mix

For the movies, you need to extract all contents of movies.mix into the movies subfolder. (Files can be extracted using the XXC Mixer.)

Your cnc content folder should look like this now:

OpenRA\Content\cnc:
│   cclocal.mix
│   conquer.mix
│   desert.mix
│   general.mix
│   mirrors.txt
│   scores.mix
│   sounds.mix
│   speech.mix
│   temperat.mix
│   tempicnh.mix
│   transit.mix
│   updatec.mix
│   winter.mix
│
└───movies
        airstrk.vqa
        akira.vqa
        banner.vqa
        bcanyon.vqa
        bkground.vqa
        bombaway.vqa
        bombflee.vqa
        burdet1.vqa
        burdet2.vqa
        cc2tease.vqa
        consyard.vqa
        desflees.vqa
        deskill.vqa
        desolat.vqa
        dessweep.vqa
        dino.vqa
        flag.vqa
        flyy.vqa
        forestkl.vqa
        gameover.vqa
        gdi1.vqa
        gdi10.vqa
        gdi11.vqa
        gdi12.vqa
        gdi13.vqa
        gdi14.vqa
        gdi15.vqa
        gdi2.vqa
        gdi3.vqa
        gdi3lose.vqa
        gdi4a.vqa
        gdi4b.vqa
        gdi5.vqa
        gdi6.vqa
        gdi7.vqa
        gdi8a.vqa
        gdi8b.vqa
        gdi9.vqa
        gdiend1.vqa
        gdiend2.vqa
        gdifina.vqa
        gdifinb.vqa
        gdilose.vqa
        generic.vqa
        gunboat.vqa
        hellvaly.vqa
        insites.vqa
        intro2.vqa
        kanepre.vqa
        landing.vqa
        logo.vqa
        napalm.vqa
        nitejump.vqa
        nod1.vqa
        nod10a.vqa
        nod10b.vqa
        nod11.vqa
        nod12.vqa
        nod13.vqa
        nod1pre.vqa
        nod2.vqa
        nod3.vqa
        nod4a.vqa
        nod4b.vqa
        nod5.vqa
        nod6.vqa
        nod7a.vqa
        nod7b.vqa
        nod8.vqa
        nod9.vqa
        nodend1.vqa
        nodend2.vqa
        nodend3.vqa
        nodend4.vqa
        nodfinal.vqa
        nodflees.vqa
        nodlose.vqa
        nodsweep.vqa
        nuke.vqa
        obel.vqa
        paratrop.vqa
        pintle.vqa
        planecra.vqa
        podium.vqa
        refint.vqa
        retro.vqa
        sabotage.vqa
        samdie.vqa
        samsite.vqa
        seige.vqa
        sethpre.vqa
        spycrash.vqa
        stealth.vqa
        sundial.vqa
        tankgo.vqa
        tankkill.vqa
        tbrinfo1.vqa
        tbrinfo2.vqa
        tbrinfo3.vqa
        tiberfx.vqa
        trailer.vqa
        trtkil_d.vqa
        turtkill.vqa
        visor.vqa

Red Alert

The subfolder for the Red Alert content is ra\v2.

"Red Alert 95 (Allied Disc)" and "Red Alert 95 (Soviet Disc)" contain MAIN.MIX in their root directory and REDALERT.MIX in the INSTALL directory. Those files contain all required mix and vqa files.

The Counterstrike music files (2nd_hand.aud, araziod.aud, backstab.aud, chaos2.aud, shut_it.aud, twinmix1.aud, under3.aud, vr2.aud) can be found in the MAIN.MIX on the "Counterstrike Expansion" disc.

The Aftermath files on the "Aftermath Expansion" disc (expand2.mix, hires1.mix, lores1.mix) are located in the SETUP/INSTALL/PATCH.RTP file. The music is to be extracted from the MAIN.MIX in the root directory of the disc.

desert.mix needs to be taken from either the Nod or GDI discs of Tiberian Dawn.

The "C&C The First Decade" disc stores the base mix files (MAIN.MIX, REDALERT.MIX, HIRES1.MIX, LORES1.MIX, EXPAND2.MIX) inside the Red Alert folder (and DESERT.MIX inside the CNC folder) of the data1.hdr, data1.cab, data2.cab, data3.cab, data4.cab and data5.cab files.

For the movies, you need to extract all vqa files in MAIN.MIX into the movies subfolder. (Files can be extracted using the XXC Mixer.)

Copy or extract the files to the following location in the ra\v2 folder such that it looks like this:

OpenRA\Content\ra\v2:
│   allies.mix
│   conquer.mix
│   hires.mix
│   interior.mix
│   local.mix
│   lores.mix
│   russian.mix
│   scores.mix
│   snow.mix
│   sounds.mix
│   speech.mix
│   temperat.mix
│
├───cnc
│       desert.mix
│
├───expand
│       2nd_hand.aud
│       araziod.aud
│       await.aud
│       backstab.aud
│       bog.aud
│       chaos2.aud
│       chrotnk1.aud
│       expand2.mix
│       fixit1.aud
│       float_v2.aud
│       gloom.aud
│       grndwire.aud
│       hires1.mix
│       jburn1.aud
│       jchrge1.aud
│       jcrisp1.aud
│       jdance1.aud
│       jjuice1.aud
│       jjump1.aud
│       jlight1.aud
│       jpower1.aud
│       jshock1.aud
│       jyes1.aud
│       lores1.mix
│       madchrg2.aud
│       madexplo.aud
│       mboss1.aud
│       mhear1.aud
│       mhotdig1.aud
│       mhowdy1.aud
│       mhuh1.aud
│       mlaff1.aud
│       mrise1.aud
│       mwrench1.aud
│       myeehaw1.aud
│       myes1.aud
│       rpt.aud
│       search.aud
│       shut_it.aud
│       traction.aud
│       twinmix1.aud
│       under3.aud
│       vr2.aud
│       wastelnd.aud
│
└───movies
        aagun.vqa
        aftrmath.vqa
        airfield.vqa
        ally1.vqa
        ally10.vqa
        ally10b.vqa
        ally11.vqa
        ally12.vqa
        ally14.vqa
        ally2.vqa
        ally4.vqa
        ally5.vqa
        ally6.vqa
        ally8.vqa
        ally9.vqa
        allyend.vqa
        allymorf.vqa
        antend.vqa
        antintro.vqa
        apcescpe.vqa
        assess.vqa
        averted.vqa
        battle.vqa
        beachead.vqa
        binoc.vqa
        bmap.vqa
        bombrun.vqa
        brdgtilt.vqa
        countdwn.vqa
        cronfail.vqa
        crontest.vqa
        destroyr.vqa
        double.vqa
        dpthchrg.vqa
        dud.vqa
        elevator.vqa
        execute.vqa
        flare.vqa
        frozen.vqa
        grvestne.vqa
        landing.vqa
        masasslt.vqa
        mcv.vqa
        mcvbrdge.vqa
        mcv_land.vqa
        mig.vqa
        montpass.vqa
        movingin.vqa
        mtnkfact.vqa
        nukestok.vqa
        oildrum.vqa
        onthprwl.vqa
        overrun.vqa
        periscop.vqa
        prolog.vqa
        radrraid.vqa
        redintro.vqa
        search.vqa
        sfrozen.vqa
        shipsink.vqa
        shorbom1.vqa
        shorbom2.vqa
        shorbomb.vqa
        sitduck.vqa
        slntsrvc.vqa
        snowbase.vqa
        snowbomb.vqa
        snstrafe.vqa
        sovbatl.vqa
        sovcemet.vqa
        sovfinal.vqa
        soviet1.vqa
        soviet10.vqa
        soviet11.vqa
        soviet12.vqa
        soviet13.vqa
        soviet14.vqa
        soviet2.vqa
        soviet3.vqa
        soviet4.vqa
        soviet5.vqa
        soviet6.vqa
        soviet7.vqa
        soviet8.vqa
        soviet9.vqa
        sovmcv.vqa
        sovtstar.vqa
        spotter.vqa
        spy.vqa
        strafe.vqa
        take_off.vqa
        tanya1.vqa
        tanya2.vqa
        tesla.vqa
        toofar.vqa
        trinity.vqa
        v2rocket.vqa

Dune 2000

The subfolder for the Dune 2000 content is d2k\v2.

The "Dune 2000" disc contains MUSIC and MOVIES folders you can directly copy to the content directory. All other files are to be found inside SETUP/SETUP.Z.

Note: In this particular case, taking non-english movie files is okay. They do need to be renamed, however, for example from a_br01_g.vqa ('g' for German) to a_br01_e.vqa ('e' for English).

Extract the files of SETUP/SETUP.Z such that your folder structure looks like this:

OpenRA\Content\d2k\v2:
│   BLOXBASE.R8
│   BLOXBAT.R8
│   BLOXBGBS.R8
│   BLOXICE.R8
│   BLOXTREE.R8
│   BLOXWAST.R8
│   BLOXXMAS.R8
│   DATA.R8
│   FONT.BIN
│   FONTCOL.FNT
│   FONTCOL.FPL
│   MOUSE.R8
│   PALETTE.BIN
│   SOUND.RS
│
├───GAMESFX
│       AI_1MIN.AUD
│       AI_2MIN.AUD
│       AI_3MIN.AUD
│       AI_4MIN.AUD
│       AI_5MIN.AUD
│       AI_ABORT.AUD
│       AI_ATACK.AUD
│       AI_BDRDY.AUD
│       AI_BLOST.AUD
│       AI_BUILD.AUD
│       AI_CANCL.AUD
│       AI_CAPT.AUD
│       AI_DHRDY.AUD
│       AI_DPLOY.AUD
│       AI_ENEMY.AUD
│       AI_GANEW.AUD
│       AI_GLOAD.AUD
│       AI_GSAVE.AUD
│       AI_GUARD.AUD
│       AI_HATTK.AUD
│       AI_HOLD.AUD
│       AI_LAUNC.AUD
│       AI_MAP1A.AUD
│       AI_MAP1B.AUD
│       AI_MAP1C.AUD
│       AI_MAP2A.AUD
│       AI_MAP2B.AUD
│       AI_MAP2C.AUD
│       AI_MAP3A.AUD
│       AI_MAP4A.AUD
│       AI_MAP5A.AUD
│       AI_MAP6A.AUD
│       AI_MAP7A.AUD
│       AI_MAP8A.AUD
│       AI_MAP9A.AUD
│       AI_MEND.AUD
│       AI_MFAIL.AUD
│       AI_MONEY.AUD
│       AI_MWIN.AUD
│       AI_NEWOP.AUD
│       AI_NROOM.AUD
│       AI_ORDER.AUD
│       AI_PLACE.AUD
│       AI_POWER.AUD
│       AI_PREP.AUD
│       AI_PRMRY.AUD
│       AI_REINF.AUD
│       AI_RUN.AUD
│       AI_SELL.AUD
│       AI_SILOS.AUD
│       AI_SPORT.AUD
│       AI_TRAIN.AUD
│       AI_ULOST.AUD
│       AI_UNRDY.AUD
│       AI_UPGOP.AUD
│       AI_UPGRD.AUD
│       AI_WATTK.AUD
│       AI_WSIGN.AUD
│       A_ECONF1.AUD
│       A_ECONF2.AUD
│       A_ECONF3.AUD
│       A_ESEL1.AUD
│       A_ESEL2.AUD
│       A_ESEL3.AUD
│       A_FCONF1.AUD
│       A_FCONF2.AUD
│       A_FCONF3.AUD
│       A_FCONF4.AUD
│       A_FSEL1.AUD
│       A_FSEL2.AUD
│       A_FSEL3.AUD
│       A_FSEL4.AUD
│       A_ICONF1.AUD
│       A_ICONF2.AUD
│       A_ICONF3.AUD
│       A_ISEL1.AUD
│       A_ISEL2.AUD
│       A_ISEL3.AUD
│       A_VCONF1.AUD
│       A_VCONF2.AUD
│       A_VCONF3.AUD
│       A_VSEL1.AUD
│       A_VSEL2.AUD
│       A_VSEL3.AUD
│       G_SCONF1.AUD
│       G_SCONF2.AUD
│       G_SCONF3.AUD
│       G_SSEL1.AUD
│       G_SSEL2.AUD
│       G_SSEL3.AUD
│       HI_1MIN.AUD
│       HI_2MIN.AUD
│       HI_3MIN.AUD
│       HI_4MIN.AUD
│       HI_5MIN.AUD
│       HI_ABORT.AUD
│       HI_ATACK.AUD
│       HI_BDRDY.AUD
│       HI_BLOST.AUD
│       HI_BUILD.AUD
│       HI_CANCL.AUD
│       HI_CAPT.AUD
│       HI_DHRDY.AUD
│       HI_DPLOY.AUD
│       HI_ENEMY.AUD
│       HI_GANEW.AUD
│       HI_GLOAD.AUD
│       HI_GSAVE.AUD
│       HI_GUARD.AUD
│       HI_HATTK.AUD
│       HI_HOLD.AUD
│       HI_LAUNC.AUD
│       HI_MAP1A.AUD
│       HI_MAP1B.AUD
│       HI_MAP1C.AUD
│       HI_MAP2A.AUD
│       HI_MAP2B.AUD
│       HI_MAP2C.AUD
│       HI_MAP3A.AUD
│       HI_MAP3B.AUD
│       HI_MAP4A.AUD
│       HI_MAP4B.AUD
│       HI_MAP5A.AUD
│       HI_MAP6A.AUD
│       HI_MAP6B.AUD
│       HI_MAP7A.AUD
│       HI_MAP9.AUD
│       HI_MAP9A.AUD
│       HI_MEND.AUD
│       HI_MFAIL.AUD
│       HI_MONEY.AUD
│       HI_MWIN.AUD
│       HI_NEWOP.AUD
│       HI_NROOM.AUD
│       HI_ORDER.AUD
│       HI_PLACE.AUD
│       HI_POWER.AUD
│       HI_PREP.AUD
│       HI_PRMRY.AUD
│       HI_REINF.AUD
│       HI_RUN.AUD
│       HI_SELL.AUD
│       HI_SILOS.AUD
│       HI_SPORT.AUD
│       HI_TRAIN.AUD
│       HI_ULOST.AUD
│       HI_UNRDY.AUD
│       HI_UPGOP.AUD
│       HI_UPGRD.AUD
│       HI_WATTK.AUD
│       HI_WSIGN.AUD
│       H_ECONF1.AUD
│       H_ECONF2.AUD
│       H_ECONF3.AUD
│       H_ESEL1.AUD
│       H_ESEL2.AUD
│       H_ESEL3.AUD
│       H_ICONF1.AUD
│       H_ICONF2.AUD
│       H_ICONF3.AUD
│       H_ISEL1.AUD
│       H_ISEL2.AUD
│       H_ISEL3.AUD
│       H_VCONF1.AUD
│       H_VCONF2.AUD
│       H_VCONF3.AUD
│       H_VSEL1.AUD
│       H_VSEL2.AUD
│       H_VSEL3.AUD
│       OI_1MIN.AUD
│       OI_2MIN.AUD
│       OI_3MIN.AUD
│       OI_4MIN.AUD
│       OI_5MIN.AUD
│       OI_ABORT.AUD
│       OI_ATACK.AUD
│       OI_BDRDY.AUD
│       OI_BLOST.AUD
│       OI_BUILD.AUD
│       OI_CANCL.AUD
│       OI_CAPT.AUD
│       OI_DHRDY.AUD
│       OI_DPLOY.AUD
│       OI_ENEMY.AUD
│       OI_GANEW.AUD
│       OI_GLOAD.AUD
│       OI_GSAVE.AUD
│       OI_GUARD.AUD
│       OI_HATTK.AUD
│       OI_HOLD.AUD
│       OI_LAUNC.AUD
│       OI_MAP1A.AUD
│       OI_MAP1B.AUD
│       OI_MAP1C.AUD
│       OI_MAP2A.AUD
│       OI_MAP2B.AUD
│       OI_MAP2C.AUD
│       OI_MAP3A.AUD
│       OI_MAP4A.AUD
│       OI_MAP5A.AUD
│       OI_MAP6A.AUD
│       OI_MAP7A.AUD
│       OI_MAP8A.AUD
│       OI_MAP9A.AUD
│       OI_MEND.AUD
│       OI_MFAIL.AUD
│       OI_MONEY.AUD
│       OI_MWIN.AUD
│       OI_NEWOP.AUD
│       OI_NROOM.AUD
│       OI_ORDER.AUD
│       OI_PLACE.AUD
│       OI_POWER.AUD
│       OI_PREP.AUD
│       OI_PRMRY.AUD
│       OI_REINF.AUD
│       OI_RUN.AUD
│       OI_SELL.AUD
│       OI_SILOS.AUD
│       OI_SPORT.AUD
│       OI_TRAIN.AUD
│       OI_ULOST.AUD
│       OI_UNRDY.AUD
│       OI_UPGOP.AUD
│       OI_UPGRD.AUD
│       OI_WATTK.AUD
│       OI_WSIGN.AUD
│       O_ECONF1.AUD
│       O_ECONF2.AUD
│       O_ECONF3.AUD
│       O_ESEL1.AUD
│       O_ESEL2.AUD
│       O_ESEL3.AUD
│       O_ICONF1.AUD
│       O_ICONF2.AUD
│       O_ICONF3.AUD
│       O_ISEL1.AUD
│       O_ISEL2.AUD
│       O_ISEL3.AUD
│       O_SCONF1.AUD
│       O_SCONF2.AUD
│       O_SCONF3.AUD
│       O_SSEL1.AUD
│       O_SSEL2.AUD
│       O_SSEL3.AUD
│       O_VCONF1.AUD
│       O_VCONF2.AUD
│       O_VCONF3.AUD
│       O_VSEL1.AUD
│       O_VSEL2.AUD
│       O_VSEL3.AUD
│
├───Movies
│       A_BR01_E.VQA
│       A_BR02_E.VQA
│       A_BR03_E.VQA
│       A_BR04_E.VQA
│       A_BR05_E.VQA
│       A_BR06_E.VQA
│       A_BR07_E.VQA
│       A_BR08_E.VQA
│       A_BR09_E.VQA
│       A_FINL_E.VQA
│       A_LOSE_E.VQA
│       A_MNTG_E.VQA
│       G_INT1_E.VQA
│       G_INT2_E.VQA
│       G_MAPS_E.VQA
│       G_PLN2_E.VQA
│       G_PLNT_E.VQA
│       H_BR01_E.VQA
│       H_BR02_E.VQA
│       H_BR03_E.VQA
│       H_BR04_E.VQA
│       H_BR05_E.VQA
│       H_BR06_E.VQA
│       H_BR07_E.VQA
│       H_BR08_E.VQA
│       H_BR09_E.VQA
│       H_FINL_E.VQA
│       H_LOSE_E.VQA
│       H_MNTG_E.VQA
│       O_BR01_E.VQA
│       O_BR02_E.VQA
│       O_BR03_E.VQA
│       O_BR04_E.VQA
│       O_BR05_E.VQA
│       O_BR06_E.VQA
│       O_BR07_E.VQA
│       O_BR08_E.VQA
│       O_BR09_E.VQA
│       O_FINL_E.VQA
│       O_LOSE_E.VQA
│       O_MNTG_E.VQA
│       TS_SIZZL.VQA
│       T_TITL_E.VQA
│
└───Music
        AMBUSH.AUD
        ARAKATAK.AUD
        ATREGAIN.AUD
        ENTORDOS.AUD
        FIGHTPWR.AUD
        FREMEN.AUD
        HARK_BAT.AUD
        LANDSAND.AUD
        OPTIONS.AUD
        PLOTTING.AUD
        RISEHARK.AUD
        ROBOTIX.AUD
        SCORE.AUD
        SOLDAPPR.AUD
        SPICESCT.AUD
        UNDERCON.AUD
        WAITGAME.AUD

Tiberian Dawn
For the EVA-voice and playing sounds in french, perform the QuickSetup in OpenRA, then download the files sounds.png and speech.png herewith attached, rename them in sounds.mix and speech.mix, and overwrite the file files automatically installed in the folder OpenRA\Content\cnc.


I also have the movies folder, but I don not know where to upload it for sharing.

For info:

• speech.mix file is 1:1 out of the french CD
• sounds.mix file out of the french CD lead to crash becaus of the nuyell1.aud,nuyell4.aud,nuyell5.aud, therefore I replaced all nuyell??.aud them by those out of the original english sounds.mix
• for movies I extracted and overwrote in this order in the same folder all files from movies.mix from GDI and NOD from english CDs, then GDI and NOD from french CDs

Tiberian Dawn For the EVA-voice and playing sounds in french, perform the QuickSetup in OpenRA, then download the files sounds.png and speech.png herewith attached, rename them in sounds.mix and speech.mix, and overwrite the file files automatically installed in the folder OpenRA\Content\cnc. I also have the movies folder, but I don not know where to upload it for sharing.

For info:

• speech.mix file is 1:1 out of the french CD
• sounds.mix file out of the french CD lead to crash becaus of the nuyell1.aud,nuyell4.aud,nuyell5.aud, therefore I replaced all nuyell??.aud them by those out of the original english sounds.mix
• for movies I extracted and overwrote in this order in the same folder all files from movies.mix from GDI and NOD from english CDs, then GDI and NOD from french CDs

Oh my gosh thank you! This resolved my crashing issue after hunting for a solution for hours - cheers!

gid:wDn4g2RixXCxAG4s95Gd38

A manual installation of the required content files for Tiberian Sun would be nice to see here.

I am using the latest version and I had to copy the files to the GAMESFX folder and not in subfolders as mentioned in the guide; I put the files directly under the GAMESFX folder. I don't know if it is a change or just another case but maybe it will help someone.

Went and searched a TON of places only to find STALE information. Strangely enough the content directory for the Linux snap is actually /home//snap/openra/1415/.config/openra/Content/ So this documentation probably needs updating.

Ubuntu Cinnamon if it matters.

Is there any way to unpack a .mix file on GNU/Linux? XXC Mixer is Windows-only by the way...
And the very big question is Why the OpenRA program itself can't eat just the .mix files, getting the videos from there by itself? (if it can do it for other non-video files)

@dougmencken I've just tried ccmixar, it's written in go so not too difficult to compile for linux ;)
Otherwise, you've the C++ version ccmix.
Don't forget the "global mix database.dat" file in everycase!

And for the question, I dunno. Maybe they use their own implementation of the decompression alg, and not really "standalone" portion of code...