I only found out about this site a couple of weeks ago (and only used the forum for the first time today) so I dunno if this has already come up in the past but is there any chance of Command & Conquer coming to GOG? Either the original or Red Alert, I was gutted when I searched the site and it wasn't here.

TL;DR: It's complicated.

It isn't exactly clear if Tiberum Dawn, Red Alert, or Tiberum Sun are still being offered as freeware, for one, thanks to the Comcastic communication Skills that EA has to offer.

It has been one of the most requested games this week in the Community Wishlist. You can add your vote here: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/command_conquer_collection

C&C 1, Red Alert and Tiberian Sun are all freeware. If you grab the OpenRA engine it will even grab the game files for you from the freeware release of the games.

Otherwise the likelihood of seeing them here are low, EA seems to be happy just having all of them Origin exclusive. I nabbed it for $5 at one point. https://www.origin.com/usa/en-us/store/command-and-conquer/command-and-conquer-the-ultimate-collection/ultimate-collection

Ah nice to know I'm not alone. Just added a vote

Not #3. That's on Steam.

Or is Origin part of Steam?

This is so confusing! :P

They're freeware, so i could just go download them and run them through Dosbox myself? What is OpenRA? Is that something that does the same job as Dosbox?

I'd be nice to have the originals. I tried some patched & modded version of C&C1 that had issues with slow loading FMVs and graphics filters that didn't look quite right. C&C 1 Unofficial Patch 1.06 I think it was called.

And while OpenRA is nice, I have no idea how you get FMVs working in it.

No need for DosBox... they run on Windows natively. Originally, the plain old windows versions of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert had been made available for Download without any support for newer windows versions, although it was possible to install them and get them to run. With Tiberian Sun, this was even less of an issue.

However, since then there have been attempts by fans to make them much easier to install and run on modern Systems, like Command & Conquer Unofficial Patch and Tiberian Sun Client (Pretty sure there is something like this for Red Alert as well, but I'd have to look that up). Edit: Here is the Red Alert 1 Installer.

Also, OpenRA is an open source engine meant to work with the original game files and recreate the gameplay of the old games while at the same time enhancing it for a more modern experience. So far it works with Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, and Dune 2000, but at one point it is meant to support Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 as well. However, it is mainly focused on multiplayer, as far as I know. I you want to play the campaigns, you should stick to the separate downloads of the individual games.

I stopped using OpenRA a while ago as it adds new secondary mission objectives.

For Red Alert 1 I use - https://funkyfr3sh.cnc-comm.com/ (It will allow you to install everything from the original CDs or download the full game as its freeware. Videos, etc should all work fine.)

For C&C - http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/cnc95upd/cc95p106/ (You will want to download the complete installation and video pack.)

Both include all the expansions for both games.

OpenRA isn't a real clone of C&C anyway; it's basically an RTS game inspired by C&C which never lost its original placeholder graphics, and then pretended to be a clone. Its creators never had any intent of mimicking the original game's internal behaviour in terms of how objects interact with each other. I don't advise using it if you're looking to play C&C. It can't even read the original mission files, which is why you got these less-than-faithful recreations instead.

The patches we got should make the originals work fine on modern OSes. Honestly, they're all you need.

First of all, thank you for your work! Second, I hope you don't mind me asking if all progress has stopped on the new version of the unofficial patch for TFD? even the separate patches? Seems like the official site cncnz is down...

I'm just trying to maintain a list over links and info for mods and patches for retrogaming. :-)

Well, there is new Red Alert was announced few days ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY1XaDzFp_w

Maybe they will release old ones here at some point. After all, EA is released here Dead Space and Dragon Age Origins.

Ditto my old tactic off walling the map to place pillboxes at strategic points is now gone.
The one game that got walls right and they r&ped the feature.
Now base building is horrid and the units don't seem right balance wise.
It's just a pity I accidentally broke one of my original Red Alert discs.

I think I'm going to be sick...