Small Big Editor

An unofficial C&C Generals .big file "editor" readme
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Installation:
 Ok, if you have managed to extract this file, then
extracting bigedit.exe isn't very hard. Just do that
and put it wherever you want and you are done.

What it is, excuses and such:
 So what is this thing? It lets you view and extract
the content of the .big files used in C&C Generals.
This is all... at least yet, but there is not very
much more things that one can do. First I was going
to make it possible to create new files and add
content to the existing ones, but there wasn't
really any need for it and adding a single file to,
lets say music.big, would require a rewrite of the
whole file (~150mb) to the disk. It isn't worth the 
time it takes (this is why "editor" ended up with 
":s, it really isn't an editor).

How to use:
 There are 8 things in the program worth looking at.
The first on is the list with files. The other 
things are the buttons that let you do things with
the files in the list. Here is a summary of the
buttons:
 Load - Loads a .big file
 Extract selected - Extracts the files selected in 
   the list.
 Extract to file - Extracts the selected file (can
   only extract one at a time like this) to any
   file you want.
 Extract all - Extracts all files in the .big file.
 About - A very advanced button
 Associate .big files - This lets you bind any .big
   files on your computer to bigedit.exe so that 
   when you doubleclick on them, they are opened 
   by this program automaticly (yeah, like magic).
 Quit - Ouch, hard. I don't know what this does.

And that's it.


Or is it? There are some things worth to note.
 The Extract selected and Extract all functions needs
the InstallPath for C&C Generals set properly in the
registry, but if you have the game installed and it
runs, then it is probably set all right (at least it
was for me). They also overwrite any existing files
with the same names without prompting! This is not
a big problem if you have a fresh install of C&C G.
but it might overwrite any files added to the system
by a patch, or anything like that. It might be a
good idea to check on your directorys before hitting
these buttons anyway (if a files says
Data\INI\Armor.ini, then it will en up in that sub-
directory of the C&C G. install directory). The 
worst thing that could happen would be that you screw
up some files and need to reinstall C&C G.
 Also, if you have any other program that uses .big
files, then maybe you don't want to hit Associate
.big files, because it brakes other bindings of .big
files. You also have to hit this button again if you
move bigedit.exe. Also, in case you want to remove
the binding (if you deleted bigedit.exe for example)
then, in explorer, go under Tools->Folder options
(or something like that, I don't have an english
version of windows) and select Filetypes and locate
C&C Generals .big file (extension .big) and hit
delete (or remove, or something).
 The program also assumes that there won't be any
paths longer than 256 characters. It will probably
crash if there is.

And that's really it, I think.

Btw, you can do some really fun cheats after
extracting the ini-files and modifing them a bit ;)
I might also add, that I don't know if they will
work in multiplayer, and I really hope they don't.
My guess would be that the computers would get out
of sync, or not even allowing you to connect. But I
haven't tested things much.

Now on to the big question, does anyone really read
this?

Legal stuff:
 EA Games made C&C Generals, they own the rights (as
far as I know). They own the data in the .big files,
so don't go around ripping things (some very nice
textures, for example).
EA Games have nothing to do with me or this program.
I haven't spoken to them, and they haven't spoken to
me. I really hope they don't have a problem with 
this program.
The only thing I would be able to se as a problem is
the icon i used for the program. It is a mix of the
C&C G. icon and winzip. But this counts as free
commercial... right? Anyway, I don't have any money,
so there isn't a big point in suing me.
Any use of this program is on your own risk.

This program was written by me, Jolle, and you can
do whatever you want with it (except illegal stuff,
or say that you are the author of it and that stuff).
Any comments can be sent to [email protected]
You can also check http://neolite.net/jolle, but
it hasn't been updated in a while (but it will be,
when time comes and knocks at my door...)

Sorry for the ramblings, now go and make your humvee
godlike.

Version history:

 002:
  Only fixed a MessageBox which wasn't modal. Not a 
  reason for an update really. Yeah, and fixed like
  two words in the readme, and added this.

 001: (like 0.01)
  First release, yay. Nothing special.

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