Command & Conquer: Red Alert

Command & Conquer: Red Alert

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Developers
	Westwood Studios
Publishers
Original	Virgin Interactive
Current	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Westwood 2D
Release dates
DOS	October 31, 1996
Windows	October 31, 1996

Key points

Released for free following the release of Red Alert 3.

Completely playable on modern PCs after installing the 3.03p fan patch.

Dedicated community forums at CnC-Comm.

Works under wine for Linux and Mac, see below.

Large and growing online community with 250 players online at peak every day on CnCNet 5.

Installer is 16-bit and doesn't run under modern operating systems, see Availability for fanmade installers and workarounds.

General information

CnC-Comm forums

CNCNZ subforum

Command & Conquer Wiki

PortableRA and ra303p patch discussion

Availability

Like many 32-bit games released during the mid-90's, the game's installer is 16-bit. This and some other issues prevents you the game from being installed (using the ISOs released by EA or the game CDs) on modern operating systems and PCs. There are fan made installers and workarounds listed below.

A guide for installing the game from the CDs or ISOs can be found here.

Essential improvements

File:RA-hires.jpg

1024x768 resolution using the 3.03p patch.

Patch

3.03p

This patch contains:

• Latest official 3.03 patch and community fixes (over 130)
• New optional mods (no changes to default graphics or gameplay by default)
• Support for newer Windows systems (including 64-bit)
• Online (by CnCNet) and LAN playability up to 8 players (with a new lobby)
• Support for higher resolutions
• No-CD option
• Missions from Counterstrike and Aftermath expansions

Complete feature list.

In the compatibility tab all compatibility options should be turned off.

Support for regular Red Alert installation, The First Decade and The Ultimate Collection.

Game data

Configuration file location

Template:Game data/row

System	Location

redalert.ini contains normal game settings.

ddraw.ini contains CnC-DDraw settings.

cncnet5.ini contains CnCNet 5 settings.

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row

System	Location

Video settings

File:RedAlertConfig.png

Video and input settings

File:RedAlerGameSettings.png

Game settings

These are video settings alongside the fan patch.

Online play

There are 2 online services to choose for Red Alert: XWIS and CnCNet 5. XWIS is the official replacement for Westwood's online service (WOL) which was shutdown in 2005. On the other hand, CnCNet 5 is supported by the community and runs by opening the external CnCNet 5 client. It's also the only service used by most of the online player base.

XWIS

XWIS is a community run replacement for Westwood Online (WOL), Westwood's online service. It's integrated directly into the game and the in-game 'Internet' menu uses this service. It's run by a community called Strike-Team and their official forums can found at http://xwis.net/forums/ . They do not seem to support Red Alert on their site nor forums. The online Red Alert community does not use XWIS, instead using CnCNet 5.

CnCNet 5

CnCNet 5 is another community run online service for older C&C games which uses an external client to launch the games it supports. It's where the online player base predominantly plays on. CnCNet 5 makes use of the ra303p patch to launch matches from its external client and to enable extra game options. CnCNet 5 also is automatically updated and comes with the ra303p patch, CnC-DDraw and a configuration tool. In addition to that it comes with better netcode support, the ability to pick spawn locations and set alliances, support for spectators and new game options plus map previews in the CnCNet 5 client. In the future a ladder will be added too.

In order to play the game online with CnCNet 5, you'll will need to download it from http://cncnet.org/download . On this page there also is a download link to a CnCNet 5 multiplayer version of the game which is about 15 MB in size. After downloading cncnet5.exe place it in your Red Alert game folder and run it. It should now download all needed files and prompt you to connect to the server with a name. Press the "Ok" button and then you're ready to play.

Issues unresolved

This list assumes you're using the ra303p patch. If you experience a new game issue please make a support thread on the CnC-Comm forums.

• Flickering mouse under cnc-ddraw (which is needed to fix game issues)

Issues fixed

Make sure you install the ra303p fan patch before consulting these fixes. The patch comes with a lot of fixes.

General fixes

Instructions

"Unable to set video mode" error

Instructions

No videos after installing the ra303p patch

Instructions

Crash after overheating

Instructions

The map is put in a small box with black around it.

• Not actually an issue; it happens because the map is smaller than the monitor resolution. There is no fix and it's just graphical glitching. Opening and exiting the options menu helps redraw the screen.

Mac/Linux Emulation

This is an emulation guide for the fan-made packs, not for the ISOs or CDs.

PlayonLinux/PlayonMac can also be set up to play with the same configuration.

1. Install Wine through repositories or through official website and run or extract the installer under Wine.
2. Inside 'winecfg' create configuration options for ra95.exe and under the Library tab, add overrides for 'wsock32.dll' and 'ddraw.dll'.
3. Run RedAlertLauncher.exe under Mono. If you don't have it or it doesn't work, run the game directly (ra95.exe or cncnet.exe).
4. Have fun!

If the configuration program doesn't work, then you have to do configure the game manually in redalert.ini or the aforementioned ddraw.ini. The settings for the internal resolution, sound and multiplayer options (not CnCNet) and languages are in redalert.ini.

Other information

Open source implementations

File:OpenRA.jpg

OpenRA

OpenRA is an implementation that is multiplatform. It re-imagines the game and its gameplay is completely different from Red Alert. It has a completely reimagined interface, supports high resolutions and is very well-supported. However, it's multiplayer-only and music has to be put separately into its Application Data folder.

Red Alert can be also played on Android (link to CnC-Comm.com).

Mods

Mods for this game are scarce, but there are some that are quite neat. Command & Conquer: Classic Revolution is an Aftermath mod and there's also Arda, which is a project currently in development that aims to both patch the game and make it more moddable, although incompatible with CnCNet or more precisely, other players' game versions. There are also some total conversions of the game like a Red Alert 3 conversion called The Red Alert.

Maps

Red Alert has support for external maps, both multiplayer and singleplayer. Links for them is at the beginning of this article. There's even a map creator you can find here and XCC Mixer to package the maps.

Languages

C&C patch also supports multiple languages. They can be found here under language packs section. Currently available languages are (besides English): German, French, Spanish, Russian

System requirements

DOS

Windows

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95	98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 75 MHz	Intel Pentium 120 MHz
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	40 MB	500 MB
Video card (GPU)	PCI video card 1 MB of VRAM

DOS
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	5.0, Windows 3.1	6.2
Processor (CPU)	Intel 486 66 MHz	Intel Pentium 75 MHz
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	40 MB
Video card (GPU)	VGA or MCGA (256 colour) video card

ISA video cards are not supported