I wasn't aware EA gave away so many C&C games free

[Tanooki]

I know within the last few years they decided to let loose the original Command and Conquer (plus addon disc) for free as ISOs to burn and have at it.

What I was not aware and don't remember seeing said then (but verified it this evening) was that Red Alert+addons and C&C2 Tiberan Sun +addon was also put up there for free too.

It's kind of a double post here but that RTS thread going here and another asking about old C&C over at Digital Press got me digging and I came up with some really damn good stuff. I did not know someone has been actively upgrading and removing still existing bugs within the original C&C and even upgraded it to work on the most modern of Windows and 64bit system versions at that with a free standing installer (no isos needed.) http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/cnc95upd/cc95p106/ and he also tweaked that to work for Red Alert too (not at that link but somewhere on site.)

Then there's this site which does have all the C&C, C&C Red Alert original ISOs from EA along with the full installer EA did on Tiberian Sun with its addon package too. http://www.cncnz.com/features/freeware- ... uer-games/

I know C&C has a pretty large following, I gave up on it with the 2nd one because it just got too weird and overly complicated for my taste but if someone wants a free release classic now you got some links so enjoy.

[ExedExes]

What I was not aware and don't remember seeing said then (but verified it this evening) was that Red Alert+addons and C&C2 Tiberan Sun +addon was also put up there for free too.

Say WHUT

Ok that's news to me. I was aware of the free original C&C because we played it here @ Together Retro in June 2012. I was very active in that thread I also used Nyerguds Mod Pack (he is a member here in fact, once I said I used it, he posted!)

More than just the original free now.... good news! Rare non-dick move by EA.

[dsheinem]

Rare non-dick move by EA.

Not that rare, actually:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Or ... ouse_games

[Tanooki]

What I was not aware and don't remember seeing said then (but verified it this evening) was that Red Alert+addons and C&C2 Tiberan Sun +addon was also put up there for free too.

Say WHUT

Ok that's news to me. I was aware of the free original C&C because we played it here @ Together Retro in June 2012. I was very active in that thread I also used Nyerguds Mod Pack (he is a member here in fact, once I said I used it, he posted!)

More than just the original free now.... good news! Rare non-dick move by EA.

That's cool did not know he was on here, good for him and he did good work on that game fixing it up and then some. I was unaware of the others as well but it appears some date after the original drop they did RA and TS(C&C2) and I never knew. I'd have picked up C&C2 again back then as I bought that like C&C retail in the day.

[fastbilly1]

Check out openra if you want to play Red Alert 1 in a more friendly format. Thanks to EA releasing the games, now the openra exe will download the iso for RA1 and its all legit.

[Ivo]

Does this run nicely either with openra or the installer mentioned above? Because to get the colors right in RA with the isos from EA I had to kill the explorer process in Win7 before running RA - that is a bit of a pain to do.

[MrPopo]

Does this run nicely either with openra or the installer mentioned above? Because to get the colors right in RA with the isos from EA I had to kill the explorer process in Win7 before running RA - that is a bit of a pain to do.

I believe on my copy of Red Alert I installed the latest community patch and I didn't have color problems. I wasn't running OpenRA.

[Tanooki]

Even without OpenRA, the patch for C&C has a patch setup made by the same guy for RA too to run the thing properly on a modern OS. You've got options. I just really really dislike RA or I'd have downloaded it too and supplied the link.

The mind control type junk bugged me but really those inane underground stages were a massive turn off. I remember like in one you get 4 people or so against an entire army underground attempting to blow up a nuke. I failed that thing so many times and even had trouble cheating on it using a walkthrough too so after about 2 or so of those type of levels in the game I packed it in and bailed.

I really did love the opening sequence to that game with Hitler getting knocked off before the reich could exist and the commies going nuts shoving the allies around as it was creative.

[MrPopo]

The mind control type junk bugged me but really those inane underground stages were a massive turn off. I remember like in one you get 4 people or so against an entire army underground attempting to blow up a nuke. I failed that thing so many times and even had trouble cheating on it using a walkthrough too so after about 2 or so of those type of levels in the game I packed it in and bailed.

So the mind control stuff is from Red Alert 2, not the original. The Allies get a couple of underground missions; the first is hard until you figure out how to trigger Tanya showing up, at which point it becomes easy (that's the stop the nuke mission). The second one is just hard no matter what you do. The Soviets also get a single underground mission but it's quite easy; it helps that the Soviets get dogs which are fantastic for assaulting with.

[Tanooki]

Ahh well thanks for clearing that up as I haven't touched it in 20 years. I swear I remember some ray gun or manipulator thing screwing with my ability to progress around 1/2 or later into the game and I guess that 2nd underground run that just sucks anyway you hack it was the last and I had no idea. I know I cleared it, but I don't remember how much further I went.

It's all talk as this rate as I have enough junk to click and pay with after the steam/gog holiday sales plus C&C1 and C&C2, but I do have the stuff bookmarked so I'm not above giving it another chance at some point.