Hello and welcome to my guide to playing these games in AD 2021.
I assume you want to play the game single player. That is, you want campaigns and cutscenes.
The First Games (Command Conquer and Red Alert 1):
There's quite a few options here!
CNCnet Tibsun be sure to click Full game, Patches and Linux. It also downloads the cutscenes and has new renders plus a lot of resolutions. The game looks tiny on even 1920x1080p but it works, is supported and well, you can go for it if it's your thing. Some people know how to add reshade to it.
Red Alert 2
And here we hit the dreaded paywall.
Once you've installed the version you want you can download CNCnet Yuris Revenge which once installed, will add more resolution options to the game when ran through the original gamemd (or through origin). If you are playing on origin you have to remember to uncheck "origin in game" and cloud saves. So it doesn't go wonky if you installed that.
Red Alert 3 and Red Alert 3 uprising
Steam or as part of Origin Ultimate Collection
Command Conquer 3 and Kane's Wrath
Steam or as part of Origin Ultimate Collection
Command Conquer 4
Why would you want to torture yourself with that is beyond me. The story was stupid. The gameplay deficent. The graphics poor. I don't like it. Get it on steam or on origin. Or play pretend it never existed, which is clearly the perfect option.
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MODS
Ah yes, the mods. Of course. Command and Conquer ever since the very first game had a modding community that is still active. You can find mods on moddb. Or you could install them from CNCNet if you want to play them online with friends without much of a fuss.
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Multiplayer
OpenRA or CNCnet
I am not actively playing those games online anymore. If someone wants to write a guide to multiplay I will gladly update it into this post.
FROM RED ALERT 3 AND UPRISING ONWARDS, THAT IS CNC3 AND KANE'S WRATH AND CNC 4 YOU MAY NOTICE THE SOUND IS GONE. There's a thousand an one tuttorials on how to fix thins, but none worked for me. So I play those gaemes with this as it sounds like something ecclesia would endorse.
I assume you want to play the game single player. That is, you want campaigns and cutscenes.
The First Games (Command Conquer and Red Alert 1):
There's quite a few options here!
- OpenRA allows you to play Red Alert 1 or Command and Conquer (or Dune, but who remembers Dune these days) but with many "new" things that weren't there in the base game like attack move, veterancy, stances and more. Thus if you are a purist, this is probably not for you. In order to play campaign you have to already posses the CDs or The First Decade or Ultimate Collection (from Origin, that EA storefront).
- CNCnet version Red Alert 1 and Command and Conquer. You want to click the Full Game, Patches, and Linux for cutscenes to be there. This one is just the game as it was patched up. When installing you can download the cutscenes during the setup or import them from the CDs if you got them. Adds render options for when things don't work and you would like to change the render. Which you only really change if you run into issues or want to run reshade (I don't know how to do it though).
- The Remaster. It's like option 2 in terms of no new things (unless you install some mods as it supports steam workshop). The cutscenes were upscaled. Subtitles added. If you were to ask me, they're asking a lot for an old game, but it has remastered graphics, which look cleaner and all.You can toggle between remastered graphics (which include mods from the workshop) and classic graphics with space. Also adds zoom. Beware a lot of steam workshop mods are now obsolete as they updated the game when modders already lost interest. Supports reshade.
CNCnet Tibsun be sure to click Full game, Patches and Linux. It also downloads the cutscenes and has new renders plus a lot of resolutions. The game looks tiny on even 1920x1080p but it works, is supported and well, you can go for it if it's your thing. Some people know how to add reshade to it.
Red Alert 2
And here we hit the dreaded paywall.
- First, you can buy the 2CD version and download patches.
- Buy the First Decade on Origin (and downloaded unofficial patch for that one as well).
- You probably want to just buy the Ultimate Collection and run it on Origin. That's the least painfull way as you don't need any more patches and you will be spending money anyway.
Once you've installed the version you want you can download CNCnet Yuris Revenge which once installed, will add more resolution options to the game when ran through the original gamemd (or through origin). If you are playing on origin you have to remember to uncheck "origin in game" and cloud saves. So it doesn't go wonky if you installed that.
Red Alert 3 and Red Alert 3 uprising
Steam or as part of Origin Ultimate Collection
Command Conquer 3 and Kane's Wrath
Steam or as part of Origin Ultimate Collection
Command Conquer 4
Why would you want to torture yourself with that is beyond me. The story was stupid. The gameplay deficent. The graphics poor. I don't like it. Get it on steam or on origin. Or play pretend it never existed, which is clearly the perfect option.
---
MODS
Ah yes, the mods. Of course. Command and Conquer ever since the very first game had a modding community that is still active. You can find mods on moddb. Or you could install them from CNCNet if you want to play them online with friends without much of a fuss.
-----
Multiplayer
OpenRA or CNCnet
I am not actively playing those games online anymore. If someone wants to write a guide to multiplay I will gladly update it into this post.
FROM RED ALERT 3 AND UPRISING ONWARDS, THAT IS CNC3 AND KANE'S WRATH AND CNC 4 YOU MAY NOTICE THE SOUND IS GONE. There's a thousand an one tuttorials on how to fix thins, but none worked for me. So I play those gaemes with this as it sounds like something ecclesia would endorse.
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