Are there any Command and Conquer fans around here?

[Dr.Demento]

I've had the First Decade compilation pack of C&C for awhile now that includes the original Red Alert, Red Alert 2, Tiberian Sun, Renegade, and Generals and I must say I can't believe what I've been missing all these years. I've just one problem.

The original all the way to Tiberian Sun require that they be run in compatibility mode for either Win 95 or Win 98 and sometimes when I play the original C&C, the game will crash with a Windows error message stating "Application Error, memory couldn't be read at *--bunch of hexadecimal numbers--*" I do all the routine preparations before playing any PC as always, turn off virus scanning software, shut down unnecessary services, etc. but it's an old game. I shouldn't have to do all this like I would modern games right?

BTW, I have a dual core CPU which I set to run with one core for this game since it just causes more problems, and the video drivers shouldn't cause any problems since these games don't use 3D drivers. (except Renegade, which is FPS)

If anyone around here is familiar with this series, share some past experiences/opinions too, good or bad. I'd like to know.

 

[ríomhaire]

Sounds like you've run into the commando bug. Does the game crash in certain missions (eg, the first GDI commando mission) when you send units to the top of the map (harvesters can cause it do with their wanderings). If so that's the commando bug.

Do everything on this website, particularly the C&C95patch 1.06.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Sounds like you've run into the commando bug. Does the game crash in certain missions (eg, the first GDI commando mission) when you send units to the top of the map (harvesters can cause it do with their wanderings) does that cause it to crash? If so that's the commando bug.

Do everything on this website, particularly the C&C95patch 1.06.

Damn, you summed that up alot quicker than me! The commando bug sounded like it was popular back in the day, and yes it seems to happen more when I play GDI missions and not the Brotherhood AND it usually only happens when my I send my units further into the fog-of-war.

 

[Lucid]

Great series.

Huge fan of the Tiberian universe, Tiberian Sun in particular was hard as balls.
Also, if you want to play Renegade online using the Westwood Online system then follow the directions here.

 

[ríomhaire]

Huge fan of the Tiberian universe, Tiberian Sun in particular was hard as balls.

Wut? Pretty much every game in the series was easier than the one that proceeded it. The first was the hardest.

 

[Ennui]

Great series.

Huge fan of the Tiberian universe, Tiberian Sun in particular was hard as balls.
Also, if you want to play Renegade online using the Westwood Online system then follow the directions here.

Holy shit, it's still possible to play Renegade online? I gotta go find my discs.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Great series.

Huge fan of the Tiberian universe, Tiberian Sun in particular was hard as balls.
Also, if you want to play Renegade online using the Westwood Online system then follow the directions here.

Seconded. I like the conflict between GDI and Nod. The Red Alert series is ok, but I didn't like the faster pace of combat and oddly, turning down the game speed in RA didn't make it feel more like the pace in the Tiberium series, it just made it feel more clunky. I think it's because the animation has fewer frames per second or something.

Generals was meh as it's realistic settings and factions are basically for people who like C&C style RTS games, but thought the setting and story of the other two series was cheesy. I haven't tried C&C3 or C&C4 yet, but am going to make it a point to get them soon.

Sounds like you've run into the commando bug. Does the game crash in certain missions (eg, the first GDI commando mission) when you send units to the top of the map (harvesters can cause it do with their wanderings). If so that's the commando bug.

Do everything on this website, particularly the C&C95patch 1.06.

I'm going to try downloading that patch for the commando bug. I'm wondering how to install it though as the original C&C I have is under the First Decade directory with all the other C&C games and not a stand alone installation.

 

[ríomhaire]

Don't bother with C&C4. Seriously.

 

[Lucid]

Wut? Pretty much every game in the series was easier than the one that proceeded it. The first was the hardest.

Well, sure, but the mutant commando missions in TS made me break many a mouse.

I actually never got around to beating TD so I can't say much about it.
But, the original Red Alert now that I think about it was pretty damn hard too with the stealth missions and all.

 

[Dr.Demento]

Don't bother with C&C4. Seriously.

What's so bad about it?

 

[ríomhaire]

What's so bad about it?

Everything.

 

[Remus]

After C&C3: Kane's Wrath which had so much content (units, factions, superweapons etc.), C&C4 was pretty much a slap in the face. I only tried the demo but that was enough to tell that it was an abomination on all fronts. Extremely dumbed down gameplay, base building essentially removed, very limited selection of units, small maps, cartoony graphics, even worse acting in the cutscenes than usual, etc.

 

[Evo]

Red Alert 2 was the last truly great one for me, Yuri's Revenge was too bizarre, Generals was good but nothing more..everything since then just wasn't enjoyable for me.

 

[Lucid]

The only thing I fault C&C3 with is for screwing with the established lore but the gameplay and aesthetics(except for the Tiberium) were pretty spot on I felt.

And let's just not talk about Red Alert 3.

 

[ríomhaire]

The messing with the lore really bugged me. What happened to all the organic nature of Tiberium? I didn't really like the Nod and GDI FMVs either, they looked too much like Battlestar Galactica and they were practically monochrome. No real interesting plot development either.

The Scrin part of the story was much better though. From the moment it said "Welcome back, Foreman" they had me. It was back to the good old C&C cheese. You talking to a commanding officer with an AI assistant with some very fun dialogue. Also the only interesting plot twist in the game.

 

[Lucid]

The Scrin were definitely my favorite new addition.

They're fun to play, been dying to play as them ever since they were teased in Tiberian Sun.

 

[NeptuneUK]

I was brought up on Command & Conquer. It is in my blood.
The last time I played the first decade was on a Windows XP OS, it worked alright back then, but there's no limits to what could go wrong with running it on Windows 7

 

[Eejit]

I never really enjoyed the non-Kane C&C games very much. I've avoided C&C 4 too.

Jurassic bonus missions in C&C Tiberian Dawn were the win.

 

[Dr.Demento]

I've been playing the original C&C on medium difficulty for a week or so now (is that what you all have been referring to as Tiberian Dawn?) and I must say this game is f**king crack. I'm loving it, but I noticed the imbalance between the GDI and Nod special infantry units. Nod's flamethrowers completely own GDI's grenadiers and after about halfway through the campaign, I've almost completely given up training GDI infantry unless they're used only for base defenses as Nod starts spamming flamethrowers liberally. I just build APCs and humvees for assaulting Nod infantry as that point in the GDI campaign. The game attempts to compensate for this though by making grenadiers and flamethrower units that are clustered together detonate in large numbers if hit with too much gunfire.

A question though, why does the combat pace in Red Alert seem much quicker than in the Tiberian series? Adjusting the game speed doesn't seem to help either.

Also, since I like these old games so much, would anyone think that the original Fallout series would be worth a look? Dated graphics obviously don't bother me, and I liked the Fallout universe too. Always wanted to play that series in it's original perspective. Playing Fo3 and NV first then playing the originals would be like playing C&C Renegade then playing the original C&C games imho.

 

[ríomhaire]

Tiberian Dawn is the first game. It was a subtitle that got dropped in the middle of development and it's what people call the first game to avoid confusion with the name of the series in general.

I've always personally preferred grenadiers to flamethrowers. The flame troops are an even bigger liability and don't require as much micromanagement to prevent them killing their own troops. Grenadiers can also lob grenades up cliffs which is important for some missions. There is a general trend in the series though that the side with the Mammoth tanks get the worse infantry. In Red Alert the Allies get Tanya and spies, and in Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 the side with the weaker tanks get more powerful basic infantry rather than both sides having identical riflemen.

 

[Stylo]

First Decade is beautiful and still one of the best purchases I've made to date.

Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 were freaking GOLDEN games, man. I could play those for hours. Plus I modded an extra team for use in multiplayer into Tiberian Sun which gave me further hours of fun, using the Mutant models and such for the soldiers and having the special unit as an Obelisk Soldier.

I never thought the newer C&C games were as good, though.

 

[Lucid]

Kane's Wrath is a bit of an improvement over C&C3 since it brought back many of the original units from Sun and the subfaction thing was just a cool idea overall.

 

[ríomhaire]

The subfaction was a cool idea when it was in Zero Hour too (and to a lesser extent, Red Alert 1 and 2).

 

[Lucid]

I never played much of Zero Hour(couple of campaign missions and then got distracted), something I should remedy as I hear it's a bit better than the base game.

And I dunno, the different nations you could pick in RA2(don't recall if they were in RA1) had negligible differences I felt but I might just be misremembering.

 

[Stylo]

the original Red Alert now that I think about it was pretty damn hard too with the stealth missions and all.

Those f*cking spy missions. All it takes is one dog and it's all over.

 

[knut]

**** that spy mission

**** it to hell

i absolutely love red alert 2 but whenever i played it over LAN with a couple of pals it kind of soured because i would be playing tactically over a long period of time - building a efficient, logical and almost impenetrable defensive line, using all my available units in an interesting fashion (i.e. landing SEALS across the map in a transport helicopter or using amphibious transports for beach landings somewhere else on the map), getting a good, steady flow of income going, sending troops out on recon missions or setting up annex's/outposts across the map... but my pals, they weren't interested. their method of play was to go with almost immediate tank rushes or engineer rushes, or basically any method that simply got them a win as quick as possible. it didn't turn into a battle of wits, tactics or drawn-out skirmishes, it was just who could win the fastest.

i mean i guess that is war, really, but i'm just more of a fan of the slow game. i guess thats probably why i prefer something like project reality to battlefield 2, etc.

 

[ríomhaire]

Lucid. Red Alert 2 had one unique unit for each subfaction. Red Alert 1 only had minor stat differences for each subfaction. Ukraine has slightly faster units and Russia gets units for slightly cheaper.

The Zero hour subfactions work like the Kane's Wrath ones. There are three for each side. GLA has demolitions (ever unit has a suicide bomb, strongest superweapon in the game), toxins and stealth. US gets superweapons (overpowered base defences, poor units, cheap (but actually less powerful) superweapons), lasers and airforce (invisible helicopters, love them). China has tank, infantry (including super hacker and super Black Lotus) and nuke.

 

[Lucid]

I think this calls for a replay of said games, going to be installing The First Decade later on.