Kellie Gator Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 They all tried to fucking warn me and since I spent most of my life as a console gamer this was of no concern to me. Until now.SO. There's a gaming series I've wanted to try out, Command & Conquer, since I played some of 'em as a kid, only as demos or at friends' places. Sorta wanna look into something that was a minor part of my childhood, I guess, despite me usually not being into RTSes.However, C&C is owned by... EA. So finding the old games digitally (I'm mostly interested in the original, Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun) is a pain in the ass. I could look for used physical copies except my current computer doesn't have a disc drive built into it and I haven't been able to afford an external one, so I'd have no choice but to go digital.I decided to give Origin a try since I'm not paranoid. However, Origin IS FUCKING SHIT THAT MAKES ME WANT TO NUKE THE FUCK OUT FUCKING EA GODDAMN. Installing on Windows 10 was relatively painless at first, and I got a free game! And it happened to be Red Alert 2 of all things. So I tried opening the game and... I get a black screen. I hear noises but everything's fucking black. So I figure I could look into compatibility settings except for some reason right clicking the .exe files and choosing "configure" doesn't bloody work, nothing happens, so I can't try to troubleshoot it and make the game work. I gave up eventually.I decided I would check and see if Origin worked better on Mac (Mac OS X is my preferred OS but I sometimes use Windows for Windows-only games), since there might be some EA games I might wanna bother with that are Origin compatible... but that was a fucking nightmare, too. I start the installation, the installation software asks me a bunch of questions and then asks for permission to install some additional... I dunno how to translate it from Swedish, helping tools? So I choose "allow"... and then a windows pops up asking for my permission to install the same kind of tool. And again... and again... and FUCKING AGAIN GODDAMN.What in the actual fuck, I don't even know if the installation is going anywhere since I see no progress bar, or if it's just stuck in some kind of infinite loop. I dunno wether to keep "allowing" it to install shit or just force quit the Origin application? I could contact customer support BUT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO JUST TO GET THE STUPID APP FOR YOUR WEB STORE WORKING FUCKING STEAM AND GOG GALAXY WORKS FUCKING FLAWLESSLY FOR ME AND ARE FUCKING SWEET CLIENTS BUT YOURS IS SO FUCKING CONVOLUTED AND A PAIN IN THE ASS BECAUSE YOU'RE FUCKING OBSESSED WITH CONTROLLING YOUR CUSTOMERS AND WATCHING THEM LIKE FUCKING BIG BOSS IN METAL GEAR SOLID V WHICH IS A MUCH BETTER GAME THAN ANYTHING YOU PUT OUT IN THE LAST TEN TO FIFTEN YEARS FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU....I'd say I haven't been this mad in a while but I'd be lying. But usually over legitimate concerns, not a fucking digital web store for games. Fuck EA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevilishlyHandsome49 Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Yeah...Origin is ass like Uplay. I only use Origin to chat with my friends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MalletFace Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 A lot of problems with the C&C games is that they are irreparably aging. This isn't as much an EA being evil thing as it is EA doesn't want to waste time making ancient games work in every eventuality.For example, Red Alert 2 came out before Windows XP was even a sure thing and will barely work if you try to run an original disk on a plain Windows 7 computer. I've had to do all sorts of running around the web to get any copy from anywhere to work on Windows 8. I still can't get network play to work without horrible lag.When they re-released those games, they planned on most users using Windows 7 and whatever version of Mac OS was around then, so that's what they fixed it for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ayattar Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Have you tried running it in Windows 98 compatibility mode? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellie Gator Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 A lot of problems with the C&C games is that they are irreparably aging. This isn't as much an EA being evil thing as it is EA doesn't want to waste time making ancient games work in every eventuality.For example, Red Alert 2 came out before Windows XP was even a sure thing and will barely work if you try to run an original disk on a plain Windows 7 computer. I've had to do all sorts of running around the web to get any copy from anywhere to work on Windows 8. I still can't get network play to work without horrible lag.When they re-released those games, they planned on most users using Windows 7 and whatever version of Mac OS was around then, so that's what they fixed it for.But the Red Alert 2 I got for free was apparently from their 17 game collection. You mean to tell me they didn't even try to make the damn games work for modern OSes?Have you tried running it in Windows 98 compatibility mode?I stopped trying at WinXP, I'll look into this tomorrow. Right now I just need to chill the fuck out. Fucking crap EA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MalletFace Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 But the Red Alert 2 I got for free was apparently from their 17 game collection. You mean to tell me they didn't even try to make the damn games work for modern OSes?I stopped trying at WinXP, I'll look into this tomorrow. Right now I just need to chill the fuck out. Fucking crap EA.The Ultimate Collection came out in 2012, and they did make the games work for most operating systems of the time. All that meant was essentially reboxing their First Decade release and adding newer titles.Time happened, though. Windows 8 came out a few months later and so did a new version of OS X, and then Windows 10 came out three years later and a new OS X update recently killed it even worse.For your best chance of making RA 2 work without downloading anything else, run it as administrator in Win95 or WinXP Service Pack 2 compatibility mode with the 16-bit color mode on. You may have to kill whatever version of explorer Win10 has if the game goes into awful colors.If that doesn't work, you're going to have to go to some of the C&C communities to look for solutions.You'll have to do something entirely different to get Yuri's Revenge to work if you want it, I guarantee that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellie Gator Posted October 4, 2015 Author Share Posted October 4, 2015 So I just found a copy of the Command & Conquer Collection for one third of the price on EA's origin store that contains downloads codes inside.rofl, guess I win in the end :3c...unless the downloads still require me to use Origin. Then it'll take some getting used to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidewalk Surfboard Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Origin is fucking awful. I remember having it for a while and dreading it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charrio Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Origin the the reason I don't buy or Play PC games from EA.They add such good awful crap service to a game that is great making it a chore and pain to play.I tried them and quit, it's easier to buy a console and the game then deal with this shit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onnes Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Origin is beyond awful. I had both a SW:TOR account and an Origin account, and eventually they ended up linked. So after one of the weekly massive password breaches elsewhere on the internet I realized my Origin account was using an ancient password so I went in and changed it. Note that I haven't used Origin in years and don't have it installed on any of my systems.Fast forward some large amount of time and I find a new charge on my credit card from Origin. I guess I should just summarize what, as far as I know, happened.The Origin password change was applied to the old SW:TOR account and not Origin itself, despite being done from the Origin website.Origin had TAKEN AND SAVED the credit card I had last used with SW:TOR. This credit card didn't even exist when I last used Origin.In order to actually lock down that account I had to change the password from within the SW:TOR site. I think it took about three tries before it actually worked. At least it was obvious to customer service that the account was compromised -- especially after someone kept trying to automatically log in after I enabled email authentication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaosCalix Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Reading stuff like this is so weird for me because I never have any of these problems ._.The fuck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarcastic Coffeecup Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Origin and Uplay are cancerous.Avoid them at all costs to preserve your sanity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dijon Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Origin's improved a lot since in the last few years, actually! That said it's still complete garbage :W Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zytan Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 I always found connecting to friends on Simcity was fun and games with it not registering people online/failing to connect to those who are online; that said I've never had a problem actually running the games. If you're trying to play 20 year old games on Windows 10 then you're in for a bad time, God help me when I take the plunge from 7 and try playing Total Annihilation/Dungeon Keeper Beta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarcastic Coffeecup Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Origin's improved a lot since in the last few years, actually! That said it's still complete garbage :WIt has seen improvement, functionality-wise it works better. The UI and stability is still utter shite though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dijon Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 It has seen improvement, functionality-wise it works better. The UI and stability is still utter shite though.Literally giving away games to try to get people to keep using it is also nice~even if half of those games probably won't work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarcastic Coffeecup Posted October 4, 2015 Share Posted October 4, 2015 Literally giving away games to try to get people to keep using it is also nice~even if half of those games probably won't workIt feels like such a cheap trick though. I dislike it just because it feels like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) I was forced to install origin for mass effect  an swtor and again for dragon age inquisition. Fuck that steam wanna be with a rusty spoon in the ass. >:vIts such an irritating and resource hog of a client. Edited October 5, 2015 by Ozriel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolorio Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Literally giving away games to try to get people to keep using it is also nice~even if half of those games probably won't work"Half" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolflich Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 I tolerated origin for a while because I wanted to play battlefield but I haven't liked the last few games in the series anyway and EA has a nasty habit of acquiring things I like and turning them to shit. I don't buy anything from them anymore. Same with Ubisoft. There are so many games out there lately that if I'm willing to sacrifice multiplayer population (and it was always pretty mediocre and laggy out here) it's not really a big deal missing out on popular titles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsydian Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 I don't trust them for anything.They got hacked, or somehow leaked usernames, passwords, emails, and even what games people bought.They got into my account and tried to buy more games but thankfully it was an old card on file. Â Quickly called support and got it sorted, put on authentication. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellie Gator Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 Well, at least I'll be able to play some C&C games with OpenRA, it seems....that is, if files from Origin can be copied and used with other software. I haven't tried that yet and now I dead it I know that the Origin client opens even if I click the original game .exe files. D: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolflich Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Why would you even need to get the old C&C games from Origin? They released them free ages ago and they're available all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellie Gator Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) Why would you even need to get the old C&C games from Origin? They released them free ages ago and they're available all over the place.'cause I didn't know that. goddammit now I'll have to cancel that order I made probably. D:also, links plz Edited October 5, 2015 by Kellie Gator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolflich Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 These ones still look live but I'm literally just pasting some of the millions of search results. There are probably also as many torrents for all I know.http://www.gamershell.com/news_41337.html (TD)http://ra.afraid.org/html/ra/download.html (RA)http://www.gamershell.com/download_55872.shtml (TS/FS)Some results have expired because of how very late to this party you are but there still seem to be plenty up. Or alternatively this claims to have all of them: http://cncnet.org/I can't really test install these though (or I could on WINE/a vm but effort) but it was back in... idk... 2008? So they're pretty widely distributed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kellie Gator Posted October 5, 2015 Author Share Posted October 5, 2015 I did some hard research and found proper free versions of the old games and apparently C&C is Mac compatible so...I WIN, FUCK YEAH. This is now a rave, and time to install Origin from my computer. KILL IT WITH FIRE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrishaCat Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) Command and Conquer: Red Alert and Tiberian Sun are freeware. You don't need to deal with EA to play them. It appears you already found this out.In that case...HAVE FUN! Red Alert is probably one of the best RTS games ever made. If you ever want to play multiplayer with me let me know. I'd love to try playing a round or so against you. Or maybe alongside you against other players, if you'd prefer. The point is, I like playing Red Alert multiplayer. Edited October 5, 2015 by Battlechili Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolflich Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Now I wonder if you can still get finalsun and sunedit2k... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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